Iran's only female cabinet minister sacked

[TruthSeeker]

Iran's only female cabinet minister sacked
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 December 2012 18.37 EST

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has dismissed his only female cabinet member, the health minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, after she criticised her colleagues for failing to provide funds to import vital medicines.

Appointed in 2009, Dastjerdi was the first woman minister since the Islamic republic was established in 1979. While seen as politically conservative, the gynaecologist has advocated a greater role for women in society.

Reports have emerged in recent weeks of shortages of some medicines crucial for treatment of cancer, multiple sclerosis, blood disorders and other serious conditions.

Last month, Dastjerdi said only a quarter of the $2.4bn (£1.5bn) earmarked for medicine imports had been provided in the current year and there was a shortage of foreign currency for the shipments.

"Medicine is more essential than bread," she said on state television. "I have heard that luxury cars have been imported with subsidised dollars but I don't know what happened to the dollars that were supposed to be allocated for importing medicine."

Iranian officials blame the shortages on sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union. The government has come under heavy criticism itself for failing to manage the needs of Iranians properly. Ahmadinejad's political rivals accuse him of exacerbating the effects of sanctions through poor management and cronyism.

In a short statement, he announced the interim appointment of Mohammad Hassan Tariqat Monfared as head of the ministry, replacing Dastjerdi.

"Noting your commitment and valuable experience and based on the ... constitution, I appoint you as the caretaker health minister," read the statement published widely across Iranian media.

Dastjerdi's dismissal was criticised in parliament, where Ahmadinejad has been accused of concentrating power in his own hands.

"Although the president has the authority to sack the health minister, the move was not wise and doesn't have acceptable logic," said the head of parliament's health committee, Hosseinali Shahriari, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Iran's only female cabinet minister sacked | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[Abii]

Ahmadinejad's last crazy move before the elections

The man is bat **** ******* crazy, even by IR standards.

 

[The SiLent crY]

God bless us .

He is mad . my family voted him but now crying for their mistake .

 

[Silverblaze]

Iran was replaced by one dictator by a bunch of others.

The current president is cornered lets hope whatever happens turns out to be better for Iranians.

 

[Harry_Thomason]

Ministers get sacked everyday throughout the World, how does that show "madness" is beyond me. Unless its madness on part of the accusers

 

[Surenas]

Good for her. She was a conservative fool. Her brother is also working for the Khamenei office. Go Ahmadinejad! Get that Khamenei clan!

 

[twilight]

Well , President have right to select his ministers ....

anyway , it was completely unnecessary ... it only 5 month to election and all parties begun their move for it ...

although , My friends who work in in Hospital saying the previous Health Minister ( Doc. Bagheri Lankarani ) was far better than this one ( Doc. Dastjerdi )

 

[Surenas]

Iran's problem in health care is all the corruption.

 

[Abii]

Ministers get sacked everyday throughout the World, how does that show "madness" is beyond me. Unless its madness on part of the accusers

b/c, from the looks of it, her crime was to ask for the budget she was promised. For that she got the boot lol

Anyway, she prolly didn't deserve to have that spot in any case. Some conservative hoe who prays 11 times a day. Doesn't mean Nejad isn't a madman for firing someone over smtg so simple. He loves to do weird stuff so ppl talk about him.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Easy scapegoat Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi wins Iranians' sympathy

BY: HUGH TOMLINSON From: The Times December 29, 2012 12:00AM

IRAN'S only woman cabinet minister was sacked yesterday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the regime sought a scapegoat for the country's deepening health crisis.

Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi was fired as Health Minister after speaking out against government cuts to her department that have plunged Iran into a healthcare crisis, provoking widespread criticism of the regime at home.

Her promotion three years ago, when she became the first woman appointed to the Iranian cabinet since the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, was hailed as a watershed moment, despite bitter opposition from hardliners.

But her relationship with Mr Ahmadinejad soured as the regime slashed healthcare funding amid allegations Iran's ruling elite was profiteering from the crisis and placing the lives of ordinary Iranians at risk.

Iranian government data obtained by The Times last month showed that Iran had stockpiles of medicine to last 100 days.

About $US2 billion ($1.9bn) in funding, pledged by Mr Ahmadinejad to the Health Ministry, has not materialised.

In recent weeks, Ms Dastjerdi has been reduced to publicly begging for government cash to avert disaster. "We have been pursuing the currency that we were told was allocated to import medicine with since February but . . . the amount received is so little it's not even worth mentioning," she said.

Essential medical imports are exempt from the sanctions imposed by the West to curb Iran's disputed nuclear program, but it has emerged that a subsidised exchange rate, imposed by Tehran to ring-fence imports of food and medicine from the recent collapse in the currency, has instead been exploited by Iran's Revolutionary Guard to bankroll the purchase of sports cars and luxury goods.

At the same time, the powerful militia has excluded the Health Ministry from access to cheap dollars. Forced to shop on the open market, health groups fall prey to unscrupulous currency dealers. Drugs for a host of diseases, including leukemia and multiple sclerosis, have trebled in price.

The scandal caused outrage in Tehran, with furious accusations between Mr Ahmadinejad and Iran's Central Bank.

With a presidential election beckoning in June, Ms Dastjerdi has been caught between rival factions looking to shift the blame.

Powerless to secure funding for her ministry, she made an easy scapegoat, but her willingness to defend the rights of ordinary citizens has won her widespread sympathy. "Even when it was obvious it would get her fired, she has continued to speak out," said one Iranian source.

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[Serpentine]

The funny part is the western media maneuver over this news and how they are jumping up and down.Every week,dozens of ministers are sacked in countries and no one gives a crap,look how the media are putting the emphasis on her being a womann. Ahmadinejad did make a mistake by sacking her,but it wasn't because she is a woman.That's bs.

 

[twilight]

The funny part is the western media maneuver over this news and how they are jumping up and down.Every week,dozens of ministers are sacked in countries and no one gives a crap,look how the media are putting the emphasis on her being a womann. Ahmadinejad did make a mistake by sacking her,but it wasn't because she is a woman.That's bs.

and funnier part is that ignore Iran has a women as minister for at least 3.5 years but their ally don't knew what "ministry" mean !? except using it to give a job to a prance ......

 

[ihealugo]

a Man was replaced with a woman a few years ago and now that woman is replaced with a man ..... nothing more nothing less ....
**** this life
**** these ******* , **** ed up threads ...

 

[Spring Onion]

The funny part is the western media maneuver over this news and how they are jumping up and down.Every week,dozens of ministers are sacked in countries and no one gives a crap,look how the media are putting the emphasis on her being a womann. Ahmadinejad did make a mistake by sacking her,but it wasn't because she is a woman.That's bs.

One should ask the American poster aka TruthSeeker that when will US have a woman president since even Pakistan/India/ BD/ SL shamed it by electing women PM/Prez

 

[TruthSeeker]

One should ask the American poster aka TruthSeeker that when will US have a woman president since even Pakistan/India/ BD/ SL shamed it by electing women PM/Prez

TS answers: When there is a woman worthy of being the leader of the forces of good in the world. It is a heavy responsibility. So far, no woman has been worthy .....