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Iran emerges as regional medicine hub, data show

Figures in a report show Iran is currently the largest provider of medicine services in West Asia. (Photo via IRNA)

Official data show that Iran has turned into the largest provider of medical and pharmaceutical services in the West Asia region.

Figures from the health ministry published in a Saturday report by the official IRNA news agency showed that Iran has managed to reach self-sufficiency in manufacturing and procurement of some 99% of the pharmaceuticals needed in the country.

The report said that Iranian pharmaceutical firms has launched production lines for four active ingredients needed to manufacture biologics which are a new set of drugs needed to treat patients suffering from cancer, viral infections, hemophilia and multiple sclerosis.

The figures showed that Iran is currently relying on domestic suppliers for almost 40% of its demand for medical equipment with local companies manufacturing a range of 10,000 items of medical equipment for supplying to domestic and foreign customers.

The data showed that Iran has significantly improved its vaccination rates in recent years as it supplied tens of millions of home-grown and foreign-made vaccine doses to people during the coronavirus pandemic.

Basic care is currently available to the entire population in cities and villages in Iran where some 18,000 Rural Health Houses along with 10,000 hospitals and care centers in cities and towns across the country are providing services to people, said the report.

Iran has 16 doctors per 1,000 people, with the total number of doctors in the country exceeding 159,000, according to the Iranian health ministry figures.

Some 17,930 professors are training more than 195,000 students at medical universities across Iran, the figures showed.

The number of brain surgeons in Iran has increased from 1.4 per one million people in 1983 to 13 per one million in 2024, more than double the global standard and on par with the existing rates in the United States, the report said, citing figures from the Medical Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 


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