TEHRAN – The Ministry of Health is determined to expand the use of Iranian traditional medicine in the health system, the director of the Iranian Medicine Office of the Ministry of Health, has announced.

The results of several meetings that have been held in this regard will be published soon as the Iranian medicine protocol, IRNA quoted Nafiseh Hosseini Yekta as saying on Monday.

“There are a number of outpatient and counseling centers in different cities that provide services to COVID-19 patients; There are also health centers in Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, and Mashhad universities that provide services to outpatients.

In some hospitals in different cities, Iranian traditional medicine specialists are consulting hospitalized patients. Also, the expansion of these centers and providing services to patients on a large scale in different cities is on the agenda,” she explained.

According to published articles, countries that have used traditional medicine to help treat patients during the epidemic have better conditions than other countries, she stated.

Pointing out that over 100 clinical trials have been conducted and the results have been extracted, she stated that some researchers sought to obtain licenses for natural products to treat COVID-19; At present, 17 natural products have been licensed and 9 have been produced and entered the pharmaceutical market.

Earlier in September, Hosseini Yekta said that the instructions for the use of Iranian traditional medicine to treat COVID-19 have been prepared.

Simple instructions that help patients along with the treatments available in conventional medicine. Many of the contents of this guideline were also subjected to clinical trials, which clearly had a positive effect on the symptoms and duration of hospitalization of patients compared to the control group.

Scientists are trying to play a role in the production of effective medicine in the treatment of various diseases, including COVID-19, despite sanctions and global pressures.

Alireza Abbassian the health ministry’s director of the traditional medicine department, said in March that Iranian traditional medicine can play an effective role in strengthening the immune system to resist the novel coronavirus infection.

Moreover, a center offering traditional medicine services to coronavirus patients was inaugurated in Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in November 2020.

Iranian traditional medicine is one of the most ancient forms of traditional medicine. It is grounded in the concept of four senses of humor: phlegm (Balgham), blood (Dam), yellow bile (Safra'), and black bile (Sauda'). The concept of four senses of humor is based on the teachings of Rhazes and Avicenna into an elaborate medical system.

Iranian traditional medicine strongly focuses on prioritizing health maintenance and disease prevention over treatment.

8,000 herbal species grow in Iran

So far, about 30,000 plant species are identified in the world, with Iran's share of about 8,000 species that its plant diversity is more than the whole of Europe.

Currently, about 2,300 species of medicinal plants have been identified in the country; while medicinal plants account for one-third of the medicines used in human societies, the share of world trade in these products is about $124 billion and Iran’s share is $570 million, which is only 0.5 percent of the total.

The per capita consumption of medicinal plants in Iran is about one kilogram of dried plants, in other words, 83,000 tons of medicinal plants worth 1.2 trillion rials (around $29 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) are consumed in the country, while in Europe this amount is 900 grams and in the United States is 2.5 kilograms.

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