On October 4, the newspaper Ham-Mihan published an almost 4,000-word feature, reporting on the increase in patients escaping medical facilities due to their inability to afford the high costs, often feeling like they are confined in a “prison.”
A head nurse from a state-run hospital in Tehran revealed to the source that every week, two to three patients escape after receiving medical treatment without making payments. According to the nurse, most of these incidents happen from the emergency department, involving injured construction workers or impoverished individuals, sometimes admitted due to heart- or brain-related conditions.
The majority of these escapes occur during busy visiting hours, sometimes with the assistance of sympathetic nurses who pity their patients.
However, Mahmoud Omidi, a nursing activist, highlighted that after a patient escapes, nurses face an “unlawful” inquiry regarding the patient’s reasons for leaving, even though it’s not within a nurse’s responsibility to retain a patient. Despite this, certain medical centers penalize nurses by reducing their wages and bonuses.
The list of runaway patients includes both Iranian citizens and migrants without insurance, making medical expenses higher for them.
The rise in prices, coupled with the scarcity of medicines and high costs of tests, scans, and hospital stays, has rendered some patients unable to afford their medical bills. Consequently, many either “suspend their treatment” or, after receiving medical services, depart from the medical centers without making payments, essentially “escaping.”
Another aspect of the report sheds light on deceased patients. Some families, burdened by the high settlement costs at hospitals, do not even claim the bodies of their loved ones.
For instance, the source explains, that there was a young Afghan worker who had heart surgery a few days ago at a public hospital in Tehran but eventually lost his life. The hospital issued a bill of 100 million tomans for his friends, but they were unable to pay and, consequently, abandoned the body at the hospital.
Etemad- April 19: Authorities indirectly keep patients in the #hospital until the costs are settled and the patient’s debt is compensated. They have turned the department into a #prison and prevent them from leaving the hospital.” pic.twitter.com/FG8wAHvzAh
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 28, 2023
Typically, these bodies remain in the morgue for several days and, if no family comes forward, they are buried anonymously.
In another part of the report, Mohammad Sharifi Moghadam, the Secretary-General of the Nurses’ House, mentioned that a prominent hospital in Tehran has separate rooms for impoverished patients to confine them until they settle their bills.
A similar incident occurred in an Isfahan hospital involving a 14-year-old girl in the burns center. The cost of her treatment was 50 million tomans, but since her family was unable to afford it, the hospital authorities confined the child to a room. As Sharifi Moghadam pointed out, the family managed to cover their daughter’s discharge cost after “two months” by subjecting themselves to high loans and debts.
However, these incidents are far from being isolated or rare. An employee at a hospital in Sistan and Baluchestan province reported to the state-run Khabar Online that over the past five years, hospital officials have indirectly detained numerous patients for their debts to be settled.
As ironic as it sounds, even dying or suffering under the oppressive regime, whose officials enjoy opulent lifestyles within the country or seek medical treatment in Europe, comes at a high cost for ordinary citizens. Hence, the highest but most valuable settlement would be to eliminate the root illness of Iran once and for all.
