TEHRAN (Press TV) -- The Islamic Republic of Iran Medical Council (IRIMC) said on Monday that illegal U.S. sanctions on Iran have negative impacts on the country's health sector, calling for an immediate and humanitarian solution to the issue.
The sanctions have seriously affected Iran's access to health and medical services, medicine and medical essentials, IRIMC president Iradj Fazel and chairperson of the Supreme Council Muhammad Reza Zafarqandi said in a letter to UN chief Antَnio Guterres.
They added that unilateral U.S. sanctions, which took effect in May after Washington's withdrawal from a multilateral nuclear agreement had harmful impacts on Iran's health services.
All countries are duty-bound to respect and protect every individual's right to have access to medical services and to prevent any restriction in this regard, the senior Iranian medical officials said.
They called on the UN chief to adopt necessary strategies to solve the issue and prevent any deterioration of the situation in the future.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced the "toughest” sanctions ever against Iran's banking and energy sectors with the aim of cutting off the country's oil sales and crucial exports.
A first round of the sanctions took effect in August, targeting Iran's access to the U.S, dollar, metals trading, coal, industrial software, and auto sector.
In a letter to the UN chief on November 10, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran Alireza Marandi said the United States had endangered the lives of many Iranian patients by imposing "unjust" food and medicine sanctions against Tehran.
"Despite the illegality of sanctioning food and medicine, the U.S. government is preventing access to these vital resources and has therefore put in danger the lives of many patients from small children to the elderly who are in urgent need of medicine and medical equipment," Marandi said.