TEHRAN – The Family Physician plan, being implemented in cities with less than 20,000 people, will be launched across the country by the next year (March 2023), Hassan Vaezi, an official with the Ministry of Health has said.

The program started in 2005, targeting almost 25 million citizens residing in rural areas.

Based on the program, a physician and a midwife offer services in rural areas, every 3,300 villagers have a physician and there is a midwife per 5,200 people in villages.

The plan helped reduce treatment costs and public spending on healthcare services, as the physician is aware of the person’s health background, so that it prevents many unnecessary diagnostic processes, like scans.

Some 800 clinics and medical university’s centers are providing services in provinces, Mehr quoted Vaezi.

Some 12 services are provided in the villages, including doctor visits, pharmaceutical, paraclinical, laboratories, radiology, drug supplements, management of technical programs, and construction, he noted.

Currently, 7,000 physicians, 5,600 midwives, and over 2,000 dentists are providing services in 4,112 rural centers, he concluded.

Mohammad Shariati, associate professor at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences and former director of the national health network told the Tehran Times in August that “because of the variety of medical services, a family physician can provide a broad scope of expertise much less expensive than a specialty doctor. If a specialty doctor is necessary, family physicians can consult with a specialist.

Part of a family physician’s job is helping the patients navigate the increasingly more complicated healthcare industry.

When family physicians are covering the societies, hospital visits, emergency rooms, and surgical hospital visits are all lowered, which can help lower the cost of medical care within the communities.

Their preventive, as well as chronic care, can cause health growth in the country.”

Strongest health system in the region

Earlier in September, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said that Iran has one of the strongest health systems in the region and this opportunity should be used optimally in the field of health diplomacy.

Based on innovative indicators of health technology development in 2021, Iran was ranked 60th among 132 countries, which shows an improvement of 60 steps compared to 2014, the deputy health minister for research and technology, has announced.
A total of 1,670 knowledge-based firms are operating in the health sector, ISNA quoted Younes Panahi as saying.

He added that there are 13 science and technology parks and 95 technology growth centers in the field of health, while 343 technological products have so far been licensed, and 335 inventions in medical sciences have been patented.

The health technology development is evaluated by the Global Innovation Index with seven indicators, including institutional structure, human capital and research, infrastructure, market and business complexity, technological knowledge, and creativity, he explained.

In June 2021, Ahmed al-Mandhari, the World Health Organization director for Eastern Mediterranean Region, said the Islamic Republic of Iran is a role model for primary health care.

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