The Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) has executive responsibility for health and medical education within the Iranian government. The MOHME comprises five departments headed by deputy ministers: Health, Research & Technology, Education, Logistics, Food & Drugs.
The ministry was formed in 1904 by prince and politician Abdol-Hossein Farman Farma. Iran's health system has since then been highly centralized, and almost all decisions regarding general goals, policies and allocation of resources are made at the central level by MOHME. The Ministry has the legal authority to oversee, license and regulate the activities of the private health sector.The role of contractual arrangements in improving health sector performance page 5
An elaborate system of health network provides Primary Health Care (PHC) to the vast majority of the Iranian public. MOHME owns and runs Iran's largest health care delivery network of health establishments and medical schools. MOHME is in charge of provision of healthcare services through its network, medical insurance, medical education, supervision and regulation of the healthcare system in the country, policymaking, production and distribution of pharmaceuticals, and research and development.
The Third Socio-economic Development Plan in 1999 authorized MOHME to adopt move towards public–private partnership in health care delivery.The role of contractual arrangements in improving health sector performance page 8 According to the 2003 Statistical Centre of Iran census, Iran has 730 medical establishments (hospitals, clinics,...) with 110,797 beds in all, of which 488 (77,300 beds) are run by the MOHME, 120 (11,301 beds) are privately owned, and the rest belong to other organisations, such as the Social Security Organization of Iran (SSO). According to the World Health Organization, private hospitals also do not prefer to contract with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, because of low tariffs, extra paperwork and delays in payment.
Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has adopted a full generic-based National Drug Policy (NDP), with local production of essential drugs and vaccines as one of the main goals.Iran-Daily: Biggest Pharmaceutical Plant to Open Soon MOHME has a mission to provide access to sufficient quantities of safe, effective and high quality medicines that are affordable for the entire population.
MOHME is the main stakeholder in pharmaceutical affairs in the country. However, the Social Security Investment Co. (SSIC), Iran's largest holding company, which owns and controls 22 pharmaceutical manufacturing companies with a 40% share of total pharmaceutical production in Iran, is affiliated with the Ministry of Welfare.
In 2006, 55 pharmaceutical companies in Iran produced more than 96 percent (quantitatively) of medicines on the market, worth $1.2 billion annuallyIran Daily - National - 07/01/07 in a total market worth $1.87 billion (2008) and $3.65bn by 2013 (projected). Although over 85 percent of the population use an insurance system to reimburse their drug expenses, the government heavily subsidises pharmaceutical production/importation.
The MOHME Department of Medical Equipment supervises imports of medical equipment, its import and distribution is mostly handled by the private sector.
Ministers +No.PortraitNameTook officeLeft officePartyGovernment1Kazem Sami13 February 1979 29 October 1979JAMABazargan2Moussa Zargar17 November 197928 May 1980Council of the Islamic Revolution3Hadi Manafi10 September 198014 August 1984Islamic Republican PartyRajai Bahonar
Mahdavi Kani (acting)
Mousavi I4Alireza Marandi20 August 198429 August 1989Islamic Republican PartyMousavi I Mousavi II5Iradj Fazel29 August 198913 January 1991Rafsanjani I6Reza Malekzadeh5 March 199116 August 1993Executives of Construction PartyRafsanjani I(4)Alireza Marandi16 August 199320 August 1997PFIRFRafsanjani II7Mohammad Farhadi20 August 1997 22 August 2001 Islamic Association of Iranian Medical SocietyKhatami I8Masoud Pezeshkian22 August 2001 24 August 2005 Khatami II9Kamran Bagheri Lankarani24 August 2005 3 September 2009 Front of Islamic Revolution StabilityAhmadinejad I 10Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi3 September 200927 December 2012 Islamic Association of Physicians of IranAhmadinejad II11Mohammad-Hassan Tarighat Monfared17 March 2013 15 August 2013 Ahmadinejad II12Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi15 August 2013 3 January 2019IndependentRouhani I Rouhani II13Saeed Namaki4 February 201925 August 2021Rouhani II14Bahram Eynollahi25 August 202121 August 2024Raisi15Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi21 August 2024IncumbentIslamic Association of Iranian Medical SocietyPezeshkian
Program State Welfare Organization of Iran See also
Health care in Iran Science and technology in Iran Agriculture in Iran
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