TEHRAN – President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran’s first rank in the region and fifteenth in the world in the field of healthcare is a sign of the country’s progress.

He made the remarks during a visit to the Ministry of Health on Monday, presenting solutions and suggestions in 23 areas to improve activities of the Ministry of Health both in terms of quality and quantity.

Referring to the design and implementation of a project aiming at combating medicine trafficking, Raisi stated that combating the smuggling of medicine and medical equipment was an important action of the Ministry of Health.

Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said Iran has one of the strongest health systems in the region.Pursuing and implementing the “family physician plan”, paying special attention to health tourism, making more use of scientific and technological achievements and knowledge-based products in the medical system, organizing the electronic health record, facilitating and accelerating the issuance of licenses for business active in healthcare, creating the capacity to attract specialist doctors in the provinces and the transparency of the shareholding of medical institutions were other important points that the president obliged to follow up and strict implementation.

He also announced the completion and operation of 850 health and treatment projects and the introduction of 220 hospitals in the country, IRIB reported on Tuesday.

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.

FB/MG