TEHRAN – The instructions of Iranian-Islamic traditional medicine for the treatment of COVID-19 are going to be communicated to the universities of medical sciences, Atefeh Abedini, Secretary of coronavirus scientific committee, has said.

Given the need to use traditional and herbal medicines as adjunctive therapy, and given that herbal medicines are used all over the world, we also had meetings with traditional and clinical medicine specialists and asked for instructions on this issue, she explained.

The Iranian traditional medicine committee was formed in May with the help of the Ministry of Health to use Iranian medicine as an adjunct medicine in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus, she noted, IRINN reported on Monday.

She went on to say that it is not expected that herbal medicine can completely cure the disease, but it can reduce the symptoms or even the length of hospital stay, adding that the combination of traditional medicine and chemical treatment can treat the signs and symptoms sooner.

Iran, like any other country in the world, has been involved in research to identify a solution to contain the pandemic, 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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