More than 80 Iranian lawmakers called on the judiciary on Tuesday to urgently clarify and pursue a 2024 case in which chemotherapy drugs were allegedly stolen from a hospital in the northwestern city of Tabriz and patients were injected with distilled water instead.
The lawmakers, in a letter to judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei published by Iranian media, said more than a year after the alleged malpractice at Vali-Asr Hospital, officials have yet to provide a full public account of what happened or who was responsible.
They urged what they described as a “serious and transparent” investigation to protect patients’ rights and public trust.
The case first surfaced in Iranian media in October 2024, when local outlets reported that cancer patients at the privately run hospital had received distilled water in place of high-cost chemotherapy drugs that were allegedly diverted for sale on the black market.
Provincial police said at the time that a hospital aide was detained as a suspect and later identified three alleged accomplices, adding that the drugs had been moved to Tehran and sold in the informal market. According to East Azarbaijan police, 20 judicial case files were opened, including cases involving deceased patients’ families.
Prosecutors in Tabriz said the investigation began after a complaint was filed in November 2024, and that four people were arrested.
The provincial prosecutor’s office has said at least one patient whose medication was stolen died, prompting the case to be referred to a special murder unit, and that more than 30 complainants have registered claims so far.
Health authorities in Tabriz confirmed wrongdoing in the chemotherapy ward but said it involved “individual misconduct” rather than an institutional policy, and that the hospital itself reported the suspects to law enforcement.
Former vice president involved
In their Tuesday letter, lawmakers also raised concerns over a potential conflict of interest involving Shahram Dabiri Oskuei, the hospital’s main shareholder and director.
They said Dabiri had sought to frame the affair only as illegal drug sales and had publicly suggested the missing treatments did not affect patients’ life expectancy because some were in advanced stages of cancer.
The lawmakers said that Dabiri has announced his candidacy to head Iran’s Medical Council Organization, a body that can play a disciplinary role in suchcases, and said this could undermine confidence in the investigation.
DabiriOskuei, a physician and politician who served as Tabriz city council chairman and later as Iran’s vice president for parliamentary affairs in under President Masoud Pezeshkian, has not publicly responded to the lawmakers’ new call, according to Iranian media.
Pezeshkian fired him in April after images surfaced online showing the official on vacation in Argentina and en route to Antarctica during the Iranian new year holidays.
Separately, Iranian media reported a similar case in January at Tehran’s Shariati Hospital, where officials said a staff member was suspended after drugs were allegedly siphoned off and replaced with distilled water, with the matter referred to the courts.
