1.2 million foreign patients treated in Iranian hospitals

“Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the best countries in the field of health, not only in the region but also in the world,” Einollahi said in a meeting of the chief representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran abroad on Sunday.

Pointing to the study of 7,000 foreign students in the field of health in Iran, Einollahi said, “Last year, we treated more than 1,200,000 foreign patients in the country’s hospitals, most of them from Afghanistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey, India, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Tajikistan.”

The Iranian minister touched upon the development of health tourism in the country. “The fields of gynecology and obstetrics, eye surgery, orthopedics, cosmetic surgery, cardiovascular diseases, urology, unnecessary medical treatments, general surgery, cancers and trauma are the most common diseases that encourage health tourists to visit Iran.”

Einollahi said health tourists acknowledge that Iranian doctors are highly skilled and competent.

“Low cost and high quality of treatment with the use of modern technologies, new treatment methods, cultural and historical commonalities, easy access and tourist attractions are the factors among tourists in choosing Iran to receive medical services.”

Pointing to the necessity of creating a “safe corridor” for the transfer of foreign patients to Iran, Einollahi said 233 Iranian medical centers have received international accreditation certificates for medical tourism, a figure that is expandable.

The Islamic Republic, Einollahi said, won the first scientific rank in West Asian in 2022. “Iran’s global rank in terms of medical science is 15th, and our 40 universities have the quality of internationalization in medical education.”

The Iranian minister said, “Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran not only has hard power, but our soft power is a great capacity that must be diligently heeded, and the use of this capacity is possible and a breakthrough in health diplomacy.”

Einollahi pointed to the formation of G5 with the presence of Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the World Health Organization. “The group was launched with the aim of regional cooperation in the field of health.”

Referring to Iran’s establishment of Al-Sibtain International University for Medical Sciences in Iraq, Einollahi said the move was one of the examples of the Islamic Republic’s soft power and expressed Tehran’s readiness to establish universities in other countries as well.

Iran has made significant progress in the field of medicine over the years, particularly in the areas of manufacturing pharmaceuticals and medical equipment as well as training physicians and surgeons at state-of-the-art medical centers across the country.

The progress was evident when Iranian scientists developed a number of vaccines for COVID-19 as well as other equipment such as ventilators and testing kits at the height of the pandemic amid restrictions on importing them from overseas.

MNA/PressTV