A total of 143 tons of intravenous therapy (IV) fluid bags have arrived in Iran from Turkey in 192 pallets on Saturday, according to the technical deputy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
“A total of 182 truckloads of IV fluid bags entered the country,” Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi was also quoted as saying by ISNA on Aug. 28.
Another Turkish brand of pharmaceutical IV fluid bags has arrived at Tehran’s Shahriar Customs Office, which will be cleared and imported tomorrow, he added.
The official noted that from Aug. 10 until Aug. 24, 161 trucks carrying IV fluid bags have entered Iran via Barzargan border.
“The IV fluid bags’ imports during the two-week period stood at 3.7 tons worth €4.9 million,” Orounaqi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The fifth wave of Covid-19 pandemic started in Iran a few weeks ago, which increased the use of IV fluid among patients and led to a shortage in the market and hospitals.
According to the head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture’s Health Economy Committee, there are five main reasons behind the shortage of IV fluid bags in Iran.
The withdrawal of one of the main IV fluid bag producer companies from the production cycle, increased IV bag consumption in hospitals following a surge in Covid-19 infections, restrictions on imports of a specific petrochemical raw material, power outage and outbound smuggling are the main reasons behind the shortage.
Shahid Ghazi Pharmaceutical Company with a production capacity of 4.5 million IV bags per month withdrew from production cycle in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 21-April 20) for reconstruction purposes, Mahmoud Najafi Arab explained.
“With an increase in the use of remdesivir, which is used in the treatment of Covid-19, demand for IV bags has also increased. Each unit of remdesivir is injected with one unit of IV fluid bag,” he was quoted as saying by the TCCIM news portal.
IV fluid bags are created with two polyethylene materials called known as PP and PV. Some IV bags only use PP that can be produced domestically, but some production units use PV for their production, which is mainly imported from China and South Korea. Due to currency problems, PV imports are limited and therefore, production units cannot produce enough IV bags as a result of the raw material shortage.
Najafi referred to smuggling as one of the main reasons behind the shortage of IV bags. He said that the bags are cheaper in Iran compared with other countries due to the command pricing policy in Iran and therefore, large volumes of this product are being smuggled to other countries, especially Iraq and the Iraqi Kurdish Region.
The official said Iran’s need for IV bags will be met until Aug. 22, as pharmaceutical companies producing this product have been asked to increase their capacity by 10% by the Iran’s Health Ministry.
Iran’s IV bag production capacity is 15 million bags per month.
