A rather heartbreaking video from Coronavirus-infested Iran shows hundreds of people outside pharmacies requesting for medicines. Some videos show the pharmacies being shut down as they are fast running out of medicines.
One particular video shows, hundreds of people lined up outside a pharmacy demanding medicines while the pharmacist explains that he has run out of medicines and has to shut shop. At this, the angry Iranians can be heard protesting while the pharmacist continues to apologize.
Outside China, Iran has one of the most coronavirus (COVID 19) affected countries. As per official figures, there are 3,500 infected people in the country and at least 107 Iranians have died of the highly contagious coronavirus - COVID 19.
Hit by rather draconian sanctions, Iran's healthcare sector has been unable to secure enough testing equipment to diagnose COVID-19.
"Several international companies are ready to ship the coronavirus diagnosis kit to Iran, but we cannot pay them," Ramin Fallah, vice president of the Iranian Union of Importers of Medical Equipment told an Iranian media. "They also insist that the money should only be sent through banks. Although there are ways to get around [sanctions], it is time-consuming."
Despite the humanitarian exemptions, Iran has been finding it difficult to import several different medical and laboratory devices to Iran, including full face mask respirators and certain decontamination systems, and sanctions ban any sale of medical devices to the Iranian military and police.
The terms of the US sanctions on Iran are so stringent that even procuring hazmat suits is almost impossible for the country.
Inside Iran, the situation appears to be grim with a dozen videos surfacing that show coronavirus-infected people, including young children collapsing on the streets in Tehran and Qom.
A shocking video recently exposed, how hospitals in Iran were piling up with dead corpses. The video that sent shockwaves, saw the Iranian authorities arresting the man who filmed and posted the clip online.
One of the reasons for the pile of bodies was because, as per Islamic burial laws practiced in Iran, the bodies of the dead are washed with soap and water before burial.
Medical workers in Qom told CNN that precautions related to the outbreak are preventing staff from observing traditional Islamic guidelines for burial.
So the relatives of the dead have to first get a clearance from the hospital on whether the patient died of coronavirus. The dead coronavirus victims are buried as the infectious disease control protocol.
