A group of Iranian benefactors have organized a charity event to gather help for MS patients who suffer acute shortage of medicine due to the West’s sanctions against Iran, Press TV reports
The charity event, which coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, has been organized with the cooperation of the Iran MS society
Delicious home-made foods from perfect examples of Iranian cuisine are sold at the event and the income will be spent on purchasing expensive medicines for MS patients
“These days in Iran, MS patients have to spend huge sums of money to buy their medicines due to pressures caused by sanctions,” said Hossein Kakavand, a representative for MS patients
“Unfortunately in some cases, the medicines are unavailable, because they are not imported to Iran. The stress of finding the medicines causes the disease to recur,” he added
Although the fundraising might not cover all the medical expenses for MS patients, the organizers consider the event as an encouraging move
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions entered into force in early summer 2012
The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program
Following the West’s sanctions on Iran’s banking sector, the import of more than fifty kinds of medicines required for people who suffer from certain diseases such as cancer, children’s cancer, thalassemia, multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as respiratory and heart diseases, have drastically declined
Many prominent international lawyers contend that Iran is entitled to file a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice against the US, France, the UK and their allies, on behalf of all Iranian citizens being harmed by illegal and political economic sanctions