A Hospital in Tehran Is Demanding 140 Million Tomans for the Delivery of My Son’s Corpse, But I Have No It
They claim that there is no transparency or accountability in calculating and charging such high costs to migrants in medical facilities. Whether a migrant is legal or illegal, they are forced to pay
An Afghan migrant in Iran claims that last month, his son was mysteriously poisoned at his workplace, a café in Tehran, and later died in the hospital. Mohammad Sadiq stated that Imam Hossein Hospital is now asking for 200,000AFs (equivalent to over 140 million tomans) before they will deliver his son’s body.
Mohajir Times — This Afghan migrant told Afghanistan International that his son, Ahmadullah, was in a coma for 12 days at the hospital. According to him, a month ago, his son’s employer called to inform him that Ahmadullah had lost consciousness and was in critical condition at the hospital. The Afghan migrant father said the doctors told him that his son had been given medication that adversely affected his heart.
Mohammad Sadiq said that after the fall of the previous government, he and his son moved to Iran to work and support their livelihood. He mentioned that the hospital now demands 140 million tomans, equivalent to more than 200,000 Afghanis. The Afghan migrant stated that he could not afford to pay the hospital costs to claim his son’s body and bring it back to Afghanistan.
Non-Responsiveness of Relevant Authorities
Mohammad Sadiq also mentioned that his efforts to locate his son’s employer and seek an explanation for the poisoning have been unsuccessful. The Afghan migrant said that since his son’s poisoning, he has been unable to meet with his employer. He further claimed that the employer had also not paid Ahmadullah’s wages for several months. Despite his efforts, Iranian authorities and police have not conducted any investigation into the poisoning and death of his son.
The Afghan migrant sent a video to Afghanistan International that reportedly shows the initial moments of his son’s poisoning at his workplace. The video, sent by the café owner to Ahmadullah’s father, shows Ahmadullah semi-conscious, leaning against a chair, struggling to breathe, and appearing to be in pain in his abdomen.
According to the experiences of Afghan migrants in Iran, there are no free or even semi-price medical services available for undocumented Afghan migrants and refugees. In this regard, no relief or charity organizations, such as the Red Crescent, the UNHCR, or other aid agencies, offer support. It is said that medical costs for these individuals are not just semi-price but can be up to ten times the official government rates in Iranian hospitals. A tragic example of this could be the death of Ahmadullah at Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran, where a father cannot afford the costs, and there is no word on the delivery of his son’s lifeless body. Ahmadullah’s mysterious death and the non-payment of his wages is yet another untold story of exile and statelessness.
Experiences of Afghan Migrants Seeking Hospital Treatment
Therefore, some migrants with health insurance claim that their insurance is often not accepted at most medical centers and hospitals, forcing them to pay out-of-pocket. Migrants say that even though they pay costs to the Health Insurance Organization for coverage, they are still facing discrimination and substandard healthcare services.
Meanwhile, most Afghan migrants in Iran say that even those without insurance who are legally present are charged exorbitant costs, up to ten times the unofficial government rates. They claim that there is no transparency or accountability in calculating and charging such high costs to migrants in medical facilities. Whether a migrant is legal or illegal, they are forced to pay whatever amount is demanded. If they can’t pay, they won’t receive treatment, and even the patient will not be released to their relatives.
Seizure of Identification Documents Instead of Payment
Some migrants who have sought treatment at hospitals and medical centers in Iran say that initially, no cost estimate is provided, and there are no visible banners or lists of approved costs. In the end, migrants must pay whatever amount is demanded, and if they can’t, they either don’t receive treatment or have their identification documents seized as financial collateral. If they later manage to pay half the cost, they may retrieve their identification documents; otherwise, they risk losing them.
Social Work Department
Migrants who bear the burden of such experiences claim that every hospital and medical center has a social work department, but it does not provide any assistance to Afghan migrants. One migrant told Mohajir Times, “I had a patient in one hospital, and during discharge, due to the high costs they were demanding, I was forced to turn to the hospital’s social work department. I went to the office multiple times to request a discount, but they refused, saying that donors do not allocate any budget for foreign nationals.” He added that after several visits to the social work office, during the last attempt, he even asked for a 50,000 toman discount (equivalent to $1) as a test of their conscience but was met with refusal and frustration from the department staff. Therefore, it is worth noting that Mohajir Times cannot independently verify or refute these accounts and experiences.
Free Healthcare Services for Three Million Afghan Migrants
Although Iranian health officials and other relevant authorities have repeatedly spoken about free medical services for Afghan migrants, such as former Iranian Health Minister Sayed Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, who, in 2016, during a meeting with Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Head, said, “Providing free healthcare to more than three million Afghans in Iran imposes a heavy burden on the country, and human rights organizations have not provided adequate assistance to Iran in this regard.”
A translation of this meeting, published by IRNA, reported that Health Minister Hashemi expressed grievances to UNHCR Chief Filippo Grandi about the problems imposed on Iran’s healthcare system due to the presence of refugees. Hashemi stated, “We must accept that in Iran, we have three million Afghan guests whom we have hosted for over three decades, but the UN and human rights organizations have not provided adequate assistance in this regard.”
According to IRNA, in this meeting, the Health Minister mentioned that “of the three million Afghans residing in Iran, about one million are legally recognized refugees; however, UNHCR does not pay the necessary costs for providing health, education, and employment services even for these legal refugees.” Terms such as “Afaghaneh, Afguneh, Afghani, Beganeh/Stranger and Atba-e-Beganeh/Foreign Nationals” are commonly used in Iranian media, official and unofficial communications literature to refer to Afghan migrants and refugees who have been displaced, taken refuge, born, educated, stayed, and lived in Iran for over three decades.
$500 Healthcare Costs for Each Afghan Migrant in Iran
In this context, Dr. Bahram Einollahi, the current Iranian Health Minister, stated in a 2023 press conference in Tehran that “UNHCR only pays $10 for each Afghan citizen we serve, while we spend at least $500 per person.” Dr. Einollahi also mentioned in this conference, “We provide the same services to Afghan nationals as we do to Iranian citizens.” However, undocumented Afghan migrants are not covered by any type of insurance. Most legal migrants also lack insurance, and the healthcare costs described by patients above are charged accordingly. Migrants with health insurance claim they pay all the required insurance costs to the Health Insurance Organization.
این لعنتی ها از مرده و زنده ما اخاذی میکنند پول برای چی خداوند سرنگون کند این حکومت ظالم را