TEHRAN- 40 new hospitals will be inaugurated over the current Iranian year (March 2019-March 2020), said an official with the Health Ministry. 

More than 70% of the equipment and medical device used in these hospitals are produced inside the country, said Dr. Reza Rezaei, the director for budget at the Health Ministry’s department of treatment. 

The hospitals will include 5,500 new beds. Currently, there are around 100,000 hospital beds in the country, ISNA quoted Rezaei as saying on Saturday. 

The hospitals are located all around the country, especially in deprived areas, said Rezaei. 

A 96-bed hospital in Paveh, Kordestan province, a 300-bed women’s hospital in Urmia, West Azarbaijan province, a burn center in Kermanshah, and a new substitute hospital in Behshahr, Mazandaran province, are some of the new facilities that are going to be built, he added. 

“The budget for building these hospitals is up to 5 trillion rials (around $119 million); fortunately, the fact that most equipment used in these hospitals are homegrown, help us to save a large part of our foreign-exchange reserves.” 

According to Rezaei, the hospitals damaged by recent floods in the country are now mostly repaired and renovated and are ready to give service to the patients. 

In December, the Deputy Health Minister for Nursing announced that there are 704 licensed home health care centers in Iran and 300 new centers will soon start working. 

According to Maryam Hazrati, home health care centers will stop unnecessary occupation of hospital beds, and will also help patients save money and be protected from hospital-acquired infections. 

SJ/MQ/MG