It was on March 6, 2019, that 66 Medical Scientific Societies in Iran urged the international community to condemn US sanctions, resist the targeting of medical needs and humanitarian aid; and thwart targeting the scientific research studies and scientific advancement.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a critical Twitter message termed unilateral coercive measures taken to hinder fight against the coronavirus pandemic as economic and medical terrorism.
The US sanction on drugs and medical equipment has caused shortage of wound dressing products for EB patients.
EB is an inherited symptom that causes fragile skin which is easily blistered when exposed to the slightest pressure or friction.
The EB patients heavily need the medication for their survival. Some 300 Iranian patients have been struggling with the syndrome in critical condition with seven patients deaths reported.
Many human rights groups have criticized the US for cutting off banking ties with Iran through threatening the international banks with punitive fines by the US Department of Treasury.
As a painful example, Ava was a little innocent Iranian girl who was succumbed to this illness.
On December 28, 2019, president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organization (MAPIM) in a letter reacted to death of Ava and other children under the cruel sanctions, saying "We are extremely saddened and equally outraged by the suffering of a toddler who suffered and finally died due the inhumane US sanctions on Iran."
Ava's story is a heart wrenching case of a pure innocent baby who was deprived of the medical care she needed, he said.
Her very short life was full of pain as she was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB).
Her death is the death of humanity, he said.
US medical terrorism was limited not only to EB patients in Iran but also to blocking Iranian Red Crescent Society's accounts which hampered humanitarian aids from other countries to Iranian flood-stricken people in 2019.
Former Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi at that time reacted to the US inhumane act and said: Normally, all banking systems will not be blocked even in difficult and emergency conditions.
He said that sending humanitarian aids will be possible through International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the possibility which has been blocked by the US in an inhumane and cruel approach.
In a related development, President of Iran Academy of Medical Sciences Alireza Marandi in a letter to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres warned against the US unlawful sanctions against food and drugs.
He said: "We are waiting for the United Nations to take immediate and serious measures against the United States for their criminal actions which are in defiance of all international conventions and norms."
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