A medical comedy series aired by a government-controlled TV station garnered wide praise by the Iranian public. However, its serious criticism of the Iranian hospital system and specialist surgeons also created controversy and the show was eventually canceled over pressure from medical organizations.

“Dar Hashiyeh,” directed by Iran’s most famous sitcom director, Mehran Modiri, debuted on March 26, 2015, during the Iranian New Year holidays and aired nightly at 9:15 on Channel 3. The series was set in an unnamed hospital in Tehran run by unskilled and profiteering doctors. Patients’ health is not taken seriously inside the operating rooms and the hospital personnel do not treat the patients properly.

In one scene, the hospital accountant — who, astonishingly enough, works with four hands — gives an exorbitant invoice to someone who only used the hospital’s bathroom. The invoice is four meters long and when the "patient" says he cannot pay it, the wealthy but trashy-looking hospital owner comes in and asks the guy to use his car or house as collateral.

In another episode, the owner of the hospital is shown trying to increase medical charges.