Investigating the approved minimum wage for workers in 1403, still puts this hard-working spectrum of Iranian society at risk of countless social dangers, the headline of which is “poverty and misery”.

This amount of wages, even with the sudden rise of the “dollar price” against the “destroyed national currency” – which intensified even more with the attack of Israel on the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 2 – has caused much bigger problems for workers, employees, and vulnerable sectors of Iranian society.

The low level of wages has not only caused many financial difficulties for families, but has also led to “malnutrition” for the majority of the Iranian society. These households are also facing countless “health problems”, especially since their “health insurance” provides very limited coverage for medical and pharmaceutical services to the “less fortunate segments of society” due to illegal withdrawals from their fund and embezzlement.

From the “dental services” that we pass by at the very beginning, because the cost of medical services in this regard is so staggering that most Iranians have fewer healthy teeth in their mouths and sometimes have to spend their monthly salary on treatment for just two teeth. The price of a root canal and filling in a dental clinic is approximately between 7 to 10 million tomans. While the minimum wage in 1403 is about 10 million tomans, the patient must continue to “enjoy” their month after fixing one tooth.

In other cases, the situation is equally unfortunate. From the cost of specialist doctor visits to additional expenses such as medication, radiology, MRI, and laboratory tests, it is to the extent that even some people cannot afford to pay for these expenses in government hospitals.

The price of most specialized medications is not covered by insurance companies and is also exorbitant in the open market, making it unaffordable for many families to purchase for their loved ones. They are forced to witness the extinguishing of their family members and loved ones, and see them slowly fade away.

In the midst of all this, the peak of misfortune is when one needs surgery. In this case, they either have to get on the waiting list for government hospitals – which, at best and due to high demand, can take six months to a year or even longer – or if the surgery needs to be done urgently, they are forced to sell household items or take out loans or even “descend”; because many Iranian families cannot afford the expenses.

The high cost of medical services has even led some to forgo treatment, resulting in a very low level of health in Iranian society. In most cases, heads of households, from fathers to mothers, after visiting a doctor and learning of a serious illness, refrain from burdening their families and suffer in silence with their difficult illness, as they do not want the financial and economic consequences of their treatment to burden their children. Yes, in many cases, middle-aged and elderly parents sacrifice their own health to avoid putting their family’s finances at risk, which essentially means they are risking their lives, as the cost of treatment or surgery may leave their children and loved ones with insurmountable financial problems.

In fact, it can be said that the people of Iran are facing a tragedy in the field of health and treatment to a great extent because they are sacrificing their own health and in some cases facing death due to their inability to afford the exorbitant medical costs.

A very painful point is that many Iranian women and men, even in their youth and middle age, are unable to undergo regular check-ups and tests due to the high cost of medical and treatment services and lack of insurance. As a result, they are not aware of their illnesses and cannot prevent them at the early stages. Unfortunately, this part of society only becomes aware of their illnesses when it is too late and the disease has become too difficult or expensive to treat.

Unfortunately, the income level in Iran is very low compared to the global average, considering the points mentioned earlier. This has led to the community’s health and well-being reaching its lowest level, and this situation will impose much higher costs on the society in the future.

Expenses that are seen and heard in many cases, where families, after numerous attempts to cover the costs of treatment or surgeries, become desperate and resort to selling their cars or personal homes, and are forced to sell the roof under which they live in order to save their loved ones. Woe to the day when families have no means of transportation or a residential home to sell, in which case they are forced to sell parts of their own bodies, such as “kidneys”, which can even be seen advertised in the classifieds section of some newspapers, or they are forced to engage in illegal activities in order to provide for the medical expenses of their loved ones.

But the most painful part of these problems and issues is that the government, officials, and ultimately the “rulers” are much more aware of these disasters than experts and the media, yet they only sit and watch without showing the slightest reaction to improve the situation of the Iranian people. It is natural that officials can tackle such a disaster with short and long-term measures and alleviate the pain and problems of the exhausted people, but other “ideological” issues in domestic and foreign policies are so vital and prominent for them that all the country’s expenses are spent on those areas.

Unfortunately, the health and medical situation of the Iranian people is in a dire and tragic state, and even warnings have been issued. Although some doctors and officials have repeatedly warned about it with conscience, unfortunately, there is no one listening and the only thing that is not valued in this situation is the health and lives of Iranians.