Hospitals' Debts to Medical Equipment Industry

The head of the Food and Drug Organization said hospitals face significant debts to industry players due to heavy outstanding claims from insurance organizations.

According to the report of the ambassador of Arjan, quoted by Ifdana, Mehdi Pirsalehi, in the opening ceremony of the Iran Fashion 2026 exhibition, pointed out the debts of hospitals to medical equipment companies and stated: "It is difficult to manage the medical equipment industry without liquidity, and the activists in this field have been able to continue their activities so far despite these problems; However, more serious measures should be taken to solve these challenges.

He stated that pursuing the demands of the health industry is one of the priorities raised in the meetings with the Minister of Health, and added: In the meetings of the government with the Planning and Budget Organization and the Central Bank, the issue of providing insurance financial resources and the possibility of paying their claims is followed up by the government.

Pirsalehi also pointed to the pursuit of the use of Gam bonds to support the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industry and said: We have corresponded with the Central Bank in this regard, and promises have been received to enable the use of these bonds in the field of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, in order to reduce part of the liquidity problems of the activists of this industry.

Furthermore, he considered production without factories to be one of the long-standing capacities of the country's health system and stated: For about 25 years, the production of medicine, medical equipment and supplements has been carried out using the empty capacity of active factories. This model is a good opportunity for knowledge-based companies and collections that do not have enough capital to build a factory to use the existing infrastructure to produce their products.

The head of the Food and Drug Organization emphasized on supporting the development of this model and added: The Food and Drug Organization welcomes the expansion of production without factories and will try to provide the basis for the production of more knowledge-based products needed by the country.

Referring to the necessity of cooperation between the custodian institutions in the field of medical equipment, Pirsalehi stated: Due to its specialized nature, this field is related to the responsibilities and missions of several institutions. The Food and Drug Organization is responsible in the regulatory field, and other institutions also play a role in this process according to their duties.

He added: In order to strengthen coordination, a memorandum of understanding with the National Standards Organization has been signed by the Minister of Health and cooperation with this organization is being pursued. Also, appropriate meetings have been held with the officials of the Ministry of Security to develop cooperation.

In another part of his speech, the head of the Food and Drug Organization considered the provision of foreign currency for medical and pharmaceutical equipment as one of the serious demands of this industry and said: Despite the follow-up of the Minister of Health and the order of the President to provide foreign currency for pharmaceutical devices and medical equipment and to send lists related to the Ministry of Health, no effective action has been taken in this regard.

He emphasized: It is necessary to provide currency for the devices and parts needed by the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries; Because the delay in providing these items can disrupt and slow down the production process.

Emphasizing the Food and Drug Organization's support for the production of high-quality and competitive medical equipment, Pirsalehi noted: Medical equipment is directly related to the health of patients, and the products that are used in the patient's body must be approved in terms of regulatory criteria and satisfy doctors and consumers. Fortunately, there is this satisfaction in most domestically produced products, and the Food and Drug Organization will support the production of high-quality products.

Pointing to the need to speed up the administrative and regulatory processes, he added: To support the producers, facilitating things and speeding up the processes are on the agenda. Procedures have been changed in the General Department of Medical Equipment and the necessary opportunity should be provided to see their results. With the cooperation of associations, unions, unions and activists in this field, we are trying to increase the speed of doing things while maintaining accuracy in the regulatory processes so that manufacturers can focus on the production and supply of medical equipment.

In the end, the head of the Food and Drug Organization stressed the continuation of the follow-up of the demands of the medical equipment industry activists and said: Although handling the financial claims of the companies is not directly within the scope of the duties of the Food and Drug Organization, this organization is following up on the issue through the Program and Budget Organization, the First Vice President and the Presidency, so that by helping to solve this problem, part of the concerns of the medical equipment industry activists will be reduced.