A number of welfare payments intended to help disabled Iranians cover living expenses, medical costs, and nursing support were canceled or suspended in June due to a funding shortfall, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported on Monday.
The cancellations and delays come as Iran's economy continues to grapple with high inflation, an issue that prompted nationwide protests in December, before the war with the United States and Israel imposed additional financial strain on the country. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran's three-month internet blackout, and ongoing environmental challenges have further battered an already struggling economy.
The Iranian media site spoke with “Mina,” a married mother of two, who said she did not receive two months’ worth of payments intended to cover her children’s sanitary products, which she struggles to afford independently, particularly amid the soaring cost of diapers.
The diapers needed for her son, she said, cost 410,000 tomans before the war and now cost 910,000 tomans. She needs ten packs to make it through the month. The diapers needed for her daughter now cost her 870,000 tomans.
The minimum daily wage in Iran is approximately 554,185 Tomans a day, according to the independent data reference platform Wage.Is.
'Neglect of welfare' is harming Iranian families
Mina said she receives 2,100,000 tomans per month in support for her son, but receives nothing for her daughter. The family was also supposed to receive an additional 200 million tomans grant to help build a house, but they did not receive the funds due to the inactive status of their welfare ID. However, they were initially told that the delay was caused by a lack of funds available with the relevant authorities to distribute the support.
"With this inappropriate information and neglect of welfare, we have neither succeeded in building a house for our children to live in better conditions, nor can we afford to pay for them,” she told ILNA.
Some individuals, according to the report, have been forced to reuse diapers, and paralyzed individuals in particular are also forced to bear the brunt of rising catheter costs.
Funds do not reflect inflation increases in Iran
Behrouz Marvati, director of Iran’s Campaign for the Defense of the Rights of People with Disabilities, also complained to the site that nursing allowances, health equipment allowances, and subsistence allowances have not increased to match the country’s growing inflation.
“Given the war conditions, the government has delegated the approvals related to tariff increases to ministers, but it seems that there is no will for this issue in the Ministry of Welfare,” Marvati said. “In other words, the Welfare Organization has presented its proposals and has also reviewed the tariff increases, but this ministry has demanded that the usual procedure for approving tariff increases be followed; a procedure according to which tariff increases were implemented in late June or July. This is while the conditions are not like in previous years, and we expected that the minister would take some measure to approve this resolution outside the usual administrative process and send it to the First Vice President for approval and notification."