TEHRAN - The Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, the National Innovation Fund, and the Central Insurance have signed a deal to support the domestic health sector by setting up a private equity fund.

The deal, worth eight trillion rials (about $17 million) aims to create a private equity fund that can help the country reach self-sufficiency in health-related products, IRNA reported.

The most imported products in the field of health are related to products derived from blood plasma and insulin, which are imported annually to the tune of 200 million dollars.

One of the provisions of the deal is that the country will become self-sufficient in plasma products over the course of three years.

All the indicators of health and treatment have made significant progress after the Islamic Revolution, and now Iran is one of the leading countries in this field, the deputy health minister has said.

Health is one of the areas that got a good jump after the Islamic Revolution, ISNA quoted Saeed Karimi as saying.

It should be noted that in the early years of the Revolution, even for a cataract, which is a routine ophthalmic operation, the patient was sent abroad, but now patients from abroad come to Iran for the most advanced surgeries, he highlighted.

“At the beginning of the Revolution, there were just 56,000 hospital beds, but now we have 156,000 hospital beds,” he noted.

Meanwhile, there were just seven thousand specialists, but now there are 70 thousand specialists and sub-specialists in the country, he added.

Therefore, the health indicators after the victory of the Islamic Revolution cannot be compared with the conditions before the Revolution, Karimi said, adding that although 40 years have passed, many countries have not found such a leap in their healthcare.

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

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.

For the past four decades, its PHC network has aimed to ensure that people have timely access to affordable, accessible, and acceptable essential health services, he explained.

In October 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain, said that Iran's health system can be a model for other countries in the region, especially in the field of health and the use of valuable forces such as healthcare providers.

The national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1402, which starts on March 21, has increased the health sector’s budget by 29 percent compared to the current year’s budget.

The bill has proposed a budget of 2,730 trillion rials (about $6.8 billion) for the Ministry of Health, IRNA reported.

The administration has also proposed 690 trillion rials (about $1.7 billion) as subsidies to provide medicine by health industries.

MG