Plight of Iranian patients worsened by sanctions

TEHERAN — Denouncing United States sanctions against Iran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said even children with epidermolysis bullosa were "not exempted from the unilateral, illegal and cruel US sanctions".

Yet, US sanctions against Iran have intensified since 2018, the year when Washington pulled out of a nuclear deal between Teheran and world powers, causing a great shock to the community of Iranian special patients.

EB patients are often referred to as "butterfly children" because their skin is as fragile as a butterfly's wings. According to official statistics, there are about 800 known EB patients in Iran.

"The slightest action that causes friction between two layers of skin, such as rubbing or squeezing, causes blisters and even dangerous wounds," Hadi Kaykhosravi, an Iranian EB patient, was quoted by Iran's High Council for Human Rights as saying.

If the lives of normal human beings depend on the existence of climate, the survival of patients with the butterfly disease depends entirely on the timely use of special dressings, he noted, adding that dressings act as "insulation to protect patients' wounds and blisters", making them less likely to suffer during the day.

Although the US claims that humanitarian items, including medicine and foodstuff, are not included in the sanctions list, its embargoes on Iran's oil exports and banking sector have, in practice, prevented the country from importing such goods.

"This global deception of excluding medicine from the list of sanctions in practice causes the death of our compatriots," said Kaykhosravi, citing an example of a Swedish company that announced in an official letter to Iran's EB House that it would not be able to provide the dressings needed for Iranian patients because of US sanctions.

More than a dozen EB patients in Iran have reportedly died of the disease in the absence of much-needed medical supplies, while others have severe physical injuries and require amputation.

Younes Arab, director of the Iranian Thalassemia Association, said "some medical necessities and equipment have become a dream for the loved ones of Iranian thalassemia" because Iran has been "cowardly sanctioned" by the US.

"This is nothing but an obvious crime against humanity and thalassemia patients in Iran," Arab added.

He said the shortage of drugs and medical supplies was due to the lack of sales of drugs by pharmaceutical companies for fear of US sanctions, the infeasibility of financial exchange, and the increase in drug and equipment costs.

Xinhua