Spiraling health costs force Iranians to delay care

August 24, 2026 - 13:08

A single round of chemotherapy in Iran now costs nearly six times the country's monthly minimum wage, a figure that has pushed many families to the breaking point. With drug prices climbing sharply and essential medicines running short, physicians across the country report a growing number of patients who are postponing procedures, skipping doses, or simply walking away from treatment altogether.

The trend is most visible in oncology wards, where the financial burden has become unbearable for ordinary households. One hospital source in Tehran described cases of patients who wait weeks before returning for their next session, hoping that prices will drop or that a relative can scrape together the funds. Others, especially the elderly and those without private insurance, have quietly stopped showing up.

Doctors say the problem is not just inflation, though the national currency has lost much of its value. The deeper issue is a combination of international sanctions, supply chain breakdowns, and a weak health system that was already stretched thin. Imported drugs, particularly newer cancer therapies, have become prohibitively expensive, and locally produced alternatives are not always available or equally effective.

For many Iranians, the choice is now between paying for treatment and paying for rent, food, or school fees. A nurse in a public hospital described seeing a father break down after learning the cost of his child's medication. He left without filling the prescription. That scene, she said, is becoming routine.

Health experts warn that delayed care leads to worse outcomes, more advanced disease, and higher costs later. But for now, the immediate crisis is that people are making impossible choices, and the health system has no safety net to catch them.