In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Overall Healthcare Policies
1. Providing services in education, research, health, treatment, and rehabilitation based on humane, Islamic principles and institutionalizing these in society.
1-1. Upgrading the system used for the selection, evaluation, training, and education of professors, students, and managers while bringing a change in scientific and academic environments in accordance with Islamic values, medical ethics, and professional conduct.
1-2. Informing people about their rights and social responsibilities, and making use of the capacity available in healthcare environments for the growth of spirituality and Islamic ethics in society.
2. Realization of a comprehensive approach for health and healthy human beings in all laws, executive policies, and regulations by observing the following:
2-1. Prioritizing prevention over treatment.
2-2. Updating health and treatment programs.
2-3. Reducing risks and health-threatening pollution based on valid scientific observations.
2-4. Preparing an appendix on health for major development projects.
2-5. Improving health standards in order to be in the highest position in health in Southwest Asia.
2-6. Modification and completion of the monitoring, supervision, and evaluation processes for the legal protection of people’s rights and the rights of patients, along with precise implementation of the overall policies.
3. Improving the mental health of the society by promoting an Islamic-Iranian lifestyle, strengthening the foundation of the family, eliminating obstacles that create tension in individual and social life, promoting education in ethics and spiritual matters, and improving mental health standards.
4. Creating and strengthening the groundwork needed for the production of pharmaceutical products and raw materials, vaccines, biological products, medical supplies, and equipment that meet international quality standards.
5. Organizing demand and preventing induced demand, allowing prescriptions based exclusively on the classification system and clinical guidelines, planning for generic medicines and the country’s national pharmaceutical system, effective policymaking and supervision of the production, consumption, and importation of medicines, vaccines, biological products, and medical equipment with the aim of supporting domestic production and increasing exports.
6. Ensuring food safety and just benefits for people in terms of having access to healthy, good, sufficient food; clean weather; public sports facilities; and safe health products, which comply with national, regional, and global standards.
7. Delineating a breakdown of the duties of the supervisors, finance department, and health services department in the healthcare sector in order to increase accountability, establish fair treatment, and provide adequate medical services to people as outlined below.
7-1. Supervising the health system by putting in place executive policies, strategic planning, evaluation, and monitoring by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
7-2. Managing health resources via the insurance system, with a focus on the Ministry of Health and Medical Education accompanied by the cooperation of other centers and institutions.
7-3. Providing services by service providers in governmental, public, and private sectors.
7-4. The coordination and organization of the above affairs will be in accordance with the mechanism that will be determined by the law.
8. Increasing and improving the quality and safety of services and providing comprehensive, uniformed healthcare with focus on justice while emphasizing accountability, transparent communication, effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity in the form of a health, treatment network in accordance with the classification and referral system by way of the following measures.
8-1. Promoting decision-making and actions based on solid scientific findings in healthcare, education, and services by formulating standards and guidelines, evaluating health technologies, establishing a classification system with priority given to an improvement in health and prevention services, and integrating these into the educational system for medical sciences.
8-2. Increasing the quality and safety of healthcare and services by establishing and promoting a system for clinical overseeing and by setting standards.
8-3. Developing a comprehensive care and support program for veterans and the country’s disabled community with the aim of improving their health and increasing their capabilities.
9. Quantitative and qualitative development of health and medical insurance with the aim of:
9-1. Ensuring that basic healthcare is available to everyone.
9-2. Fully covering basic treatment by insurance companies for all members of society and reducing people's share of treatment costs to the point that the patient has nothing to worry about other than their suffering due to their ailment.
9-3. Providing services that go beyond the basic coverage provided by supplemental health insurance. This must be implemented within the framework of legal, transparent guidelines in such a way that the quality of basic medical services will always be provided in a desirable manner.
9-4. Designating packages of comprehensive health and treatment services at the levels of basic and supplemental insurance. This needs to be done by the Health Ministry, purchased by the insurance system, and adequately monitored by supervisors in order to ensure the exact implementation of the packages along with the elimination of needless measures and unnecessary costs in the cycle of examination, diagnosis, and treatment of the patient’s illness.
9-5. Strengthening a competitive market for providing health insurance services.
9-6. Formulating tariffs for services and healthcare based on evidence and the value of the services provided with accurate, uniform fees for the public and private sectors.
9-7. Reforming the payment system based on the quality of performance, increasing work efficiency, creating fair incomes, offering positive incentives for service providers, and paying special attention to activities that promote health and measures that help in the prevention of illness in deprived areas.
10. Providing perpetual financial resources in the health sector with emphasis on:
10-1. Legal clarification of incomes, expenses, and activities.
10-2. Increasing the share of the budget that is assigned to healthcare from the GDP and the government’s general budget in proportion to improvements made in the quality and provision of health and medical services. This should be implemented in a manner that the result will be higher than the average of the countries in the region and will achieve the goals of Iran’s Vision Document.
10-3. Imposing taxes on products, materials, and services that are harmful to health.
10-4. Paying subsidies to the health sector and directing health and treatment subsidies with the aim of ensuring justice and improving health, especially in underprivileged areas. Providing assistance, particularly to the needy and low-income deciles.
11. Increasing awareness, accountability, capability, and structured, active participation of the individual, family, and society in providing, maintaining, and improving health by using the capacity of the country’s cultural, educational, and media institutions and organizations under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
12. Recognizing, explaining, promoting, developing, and institutionalizing traditional Iranian medicine.
12-1. Promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad and supporting the development of scientific and technical innovations for the production and supply of traditional medicinal products under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
12-2. Standardizing and updating diagnostic and treatment methods using traditional medicine and related products.
12-3. Exchanging experiences with other countries in the field of traditional medicine.
12-4. Providing supervision by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education over the use of traditional medicine and herbal medicine services.
12-5. Establishing rational interaction and exchange between traditional medicine and modern medicine for increasing exchange between experience and treatment methods.
12-6. Correcting lifestyles in terms of nutrition.
13. Qualitative and quantitative development of the medical sciences education system in a targeted, health-oriented manner. This should be based on the needs of the society while emphasizing responsiveness and fairness. Also, training an effective workforce committed to professional Islamic ethics, with the required skills and competencies appropriate to the needs of different regions of the country.
14. Carrying out a strategic transformation in medical science research using an innovative approach and planning system in order to achieve scientific superiority in science, technology, and the provision of medical services, turning Iran into a medical hub in southwest Asia and the Islamic world.
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