Serbian officials are also interested in cooperating with Iran in the field of genetics, the deputy health minister Mohammad-Hossein Nicknam said.

“We are ready to conduct joint research and boost academic cooperation between the two countries,” he added.

Nicknam made the remarks on the sidelines of his meeting with the Serbian deputy health minister in Tehran on Sunday.

Pointing out that Serbia has good experiences in the field of health tourism, Nicknam said: “In the meeting with the deputy health minister of Serbia, it was decided to exchange experiences in this field.”

“‘In this line, we are ready to expand joint research and academic projects between the two countries.”

Nicknam referred to the exchange of students as one of the topics discussed in the meeting with the Serbian official, noting that 70 Iranians are studying in the educational centers of Serbia.

Iranian universities are ready to accept Serbian students in short-term courses, he added.

He pointed to the help of Serbia to Iran during the coronavirus pandemic and said that Serbia sent two shipments of vaccine to Iran at that time.

Nicknam also touched on the cooperation between Belgrade University and Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, saying: “The Serbian side requested that more information about medical innovations made by knowledge-based companies be provided to them.”

The two sides discussed various types of procedures such as organ transplantation, cell therapy, and cosmetic surgery, in which the Islamic Republic of Iran has great expertise, and their costs are cheaper than in other countries.

It was decided that the Serbian side should present a list of their needs according to their priorities and hold a webinar on these fields with Iran. After that, a memorandum of understanding between the two countries would be completed and signed.

Health diplomacy

Iran has one of the strongest health systems in the region and this opportunity should be used optimally in the field of health diplomacy, Health Minister Bahram Einoullahi has said.

In October 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain, said that Iran’s health system can be a model for other countries in the region, especially in the field of health and the use of valuable forces such as healthcare providers.

They have also played an effective role in improving life expectancy, reducing the death of pregnant women, improving the health status and disease index in the last 40 years, etc.

The World Health Organization believes that the improvement of health indicators in the villages of Iran and the reduction of the gap between the health indicators in rural and urban areas are due to the activity of health care providers.

In June 2021, Ahmed al-Mandhari, the World Health Organization director for Eastern Mediterranean Region, said the Islamic Republic of Iran is a role model for primary health care.

For the past four decades, its PHC network has aimed to ensure that people have timely access to affordable, accessible, and acceptable essential health services, he explained.

The national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1402, which starts on March 21, has increased the health sector’s budget by 29 percent compared to the current year’s budget.

The bill has proposed a budget of 2,730 trillion rials (about $6.8 billion) for the Ministry of Health.

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“We have already conducted research on transportation infrastructures between provinces and it has been successfully tested,” he explained.

The golden time is an important factor in organ transplantation, he added.

The infrastructure is provided by the center as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, Law Enforcement Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (abbreviated as NAJA), Iran’s National Emergency Medical Service Organization, he noted.

“Through registration system, we will witness more organ transplantation in the near future,” he said.

The registration system project is implemented with the support of the health ministry, the National Cartographic Center, the Iranian Space Agency, Iran Air Force, NAJA as well as medical sciences universities, he explained.

Usage of motorcycle ambulances, air ambulance, ambulance car, and even airliners are assessed in software, which can find the fastest way that is needed to ship an organ, he concluded.

 The organ donation rate in Iran

In February, the transplantation and treatment of diseases department at the health ministry announced that the organ donation rate has increased by 60 times over the past 18 years.

Although Iran ranks 26 in organ donation in the world, it can claim better ranks given some plans being implemented in this regard.

If Iran moves ahead with the current trend, it will achieve 45 percent increase by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

Organ donation, how and why?

Organ transplantation is one of the great advances in modern medicine, but unfortunately, the need for organ donors is much greater than the number of people who actually donate.

According to the figures revealed by the International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation (IRODaT) Spain leads the world in organ donation.

Figures published for 2017 reveal that 2,183 people in Spain became organ donors after they died. That’s 46.9 per million people in the population (pmp) – a standard way of measuring the rate of donation in a country, The Independent reported in July 2018.

According to the data published on IRODaT by the end of 2017 Iran’s per million population of actual deceased organ donors was 11.43. In 1996 Iran’s per million population of actual deceased organ donors was 0.1, which compared to the current pmp shows a great increase.

Some 5,000 people die of brain death annually in Iran, out of 3,000 brain deaths reported last year being qualified to be organ donors, only 926 donated their organs.

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