Iran’s universal public health insurance scheme, known as Salamat Health Insurance, covers hospitalization, para-clinical and outpatient services, including doctor’s visits, radiology, lab tests, and medication costs at any public hospital affiliated with the Ministry of Health.

At present, 63 items of special medicine and 28 items of medical supplies that are needed for infertility treatment are covered by insurance companies, ISNA quoted Mehdi Rezaei as saying on Sunday.

He stated that some 56 government centers, 44 private centers, and about 30 independent and non-independent public centers are contracting parties with Health insurance, which has increased compared to last year.

According to the commitments, 90 percent of infertility treatment costs are covered by insurance. So far, in the first six months of the year, 5 trillion rials (around $15.6 million) have been spent on infertility services.

By a decree issued by President Ebrahim Raisi, the “Law on Family and Youth Support” approved by the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) was notified to the Ministry of Health and the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs.

The Guardian Council approved the law on November 17 to implement a population growth and family support plan for 7 years to change the declining trend of childbearing.

The plan stipulates health insurance for infertile couples, providing services and facilities to working women, providing health and nutrition support packages to mothers and children, educational opportunities for student mothers, providing livelihood support to families, and ongoing medical services to pregnant women.

20% of Iranian couples have infertility problems

Four million Iranian couples (equivalent to 15-20 percent of total couples) suffer from infertility, Naser Amir Jannati, an infertility specialist, has said.

Numerous studies show that men are involved in more than 50 percent of infertility cases. In other words, they can be the main cause of this problem or play a role in this disorder along with female causes.

Although some of the causes of male infertility are still unknown, most of the causes are known and treatable, he highlighted, IRNA reported.

The provinces that have the highest number of infertile couples are Kerman, Bushehr, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Ilam, he added.

Births declined by 10,000

A total of 269,748 births were registered in the spring (March 21-June 21), showing a decrease of 10,816 births compared to the same period last year, according to the report released by the Statistical Center of Iran.

Over the first three months of this year, 130,715 girls and 139,033 boys were born in the country.

The fertility rate declined to 1.71 children in the past [Iranian calendar] year (March 2020-March 2021), reaching below the replacement level.

Replacement level is the amount of fertility needed to keep the population the same from generation to generation. It refers to the total fertility rate that will result in a stable population without it increasing or decreasing.

FB/MG

The post Health insurance pays $15.6m for infertility treatment appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Outpatient and inpatient services of infertility treatment are covered by 70 and 90 percent, respectively, and the Ministry of Health is supposed to allocate an amount of budget in this regard, he explained.

Previously, these services were provided through state-run centers in a limited way, which is now supposed to be provided in non-governmental centers as well, Razavi stated.

Infertility is the inability to become pregnant after one year of intercourse without contraception involving a male and female partner. There are many causes of infertility, including some that medical intervention can treat.

Infertility occurs in 10 to 15 percent of couples. Causes of infertility can be female or male, or both. Male infertility is responsible for 40 percent of infertility cases, while 40 percent are due to female infertility, and 10 percent are due to combined problems in both parts. In 10 percent of cases, no cause is found. In other words, in these couples, both people do not have a problem according to the available tests, but they do not have children for unknown reasons.

In the last two decades, great strides have been made in diagnosing and treating infertility, and about 65 percent of infertile couples have had children using new methods.

Studies conducted worldwide, and in Iran, about 10 to 15 percent of couples are infertile, Abdolhossein Shahverdi, head of Royan, said in October 2020.

Until the 1970s, these couples went to European countries for treatment, but we entered into this issue in time and established more than 70 infertility centers, so great success was achieved in education, research, and specialized services, he highlighted.

The cost of infertility treatment in Iran is about 50 percent lower than in European and American countries. And the success rate in the best centers is between 30 and 40 percent, he also said.

Highest fertility decline in human history

According to the data released by the National Organization for Civil Registration, the number of births registered during the [Iranian calendar] year 1390 (March 2011-March 2012) was equal to 1,382,118, which increased to 1,528,053 births in the [Iranian calendar] year 1395 (March 2016-March 2017).

However, the number of births in the whole country faced a downtrend over the past three years, as registered births decreased to 1,196,135 over the [Iranian calendar] year 1398 (March 2019- March 2020); a difference of roughly over 120,000 to 16,000 per year.

Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) wrote in an article in July 2020 that the fertility rate in Iran has dropped by 70 percent over the past 30 years, which has been the highest decline in human history.

Seyed Hamed Barakati, deputy health minister for family and school population, said in May that Iran’s population growth rate has decreased to less than one percent for the first time over the past four decades.

At the beginning of the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), the country’s population grew by 2.5 percent annually, however, suddenly, population growth reached about 1.5 percent in the 1980s, he highlighted.

The post Infertility treatment costs under health insurance appeared first on Iran News Daily.