Iran

This country in central Asia, known until March 21, 1935 as Persia, remains one of the most powerful countries in its region. It was ruled by the Shah until 1979 when, after the Iranian Revolution, it has been the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has a population of 69,019,000 (2004) and has 85 doctors and 259 nurses per 100,000 people.

There has been a long history of medical research in Persia, with references to medicine in the Stele of Hamurabi from the ancient world. As a great center of learning, many medical doctors worked in the region during the Achaemenian Empire, and in the period of Greek rule that followed. In medieval times, doctors were trained at the university at Ahvaz, and the great Arab medical writer Avicenna (980–1037 C.E.) practiced in Persia. The medical scholar and surgeon, Jorjani (1042–1136) spent much of his life in northeast Iran at what is now Gorgan. During the early modern period, medical specialists such as Hoseini Nourbakhsji, Mozafar Shafai and Hakim Mo-men made great advances in surgical procedures and medical techniques.

European medical practices were first introduced into Iran with the establishment in 1850 of the Darol Fonoun Polytechnic, with doctors such as the Austrian Dr. Polack, and others such as the Dutchman Dr. Schlimmer and Dr. Albaux also working at the Darol Fonoun Polytechnic. The Treatise on Small-Pox Vaccination was one of the first books printed in the city of Tabriz. In the 20th century there were efforts to modernize medical procedures and medical facilities. This saw new hospitals being built throughout the country. The Sanatorium at Sakhtessar in the 1930s was hailed as an example of this modernization process, as was the Nemazi Hospital in Shiraz, opened in March 1956. The Iranian Society of Microbiology was founded in 1940, and an expansion of the university system in the 1960s saw many more doctors trained in the country. The medical congresses of the Iranian Medical Society were held annually from 1951 and the Near and Middle East Medical Congress was held in Iran in October 1962.

The Iranian Revolution led to many doctors leaving Iran to work overseas, but the trend only exacerbated a problem that had faced the country for some years. In March 1976, there were 12,196 physicians in Iran, [Page 947]with about 10,000 others who were practicing overseas. Approximately some 7,000 more left Iran in the first decade after the Revolution, and only 750 new doctors graduated from Iran's medical schools from 1980 until 1986. This has led to a massive shortage of trained doctors in the country, which has partially been addressed during the 1990s and early 2000s, with government and the private sector spending about $300 billion on healthcare in 2006. Nowadays, some 46 percent of doctors in Iran are women. There are now some 730 hospitals and clinics in the country, which have a capacity of 110,797 beds.

The medical problems facing people in the country included typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, and malaria. The government introduced major malaria eradication measures from 1960, resulting in a very marked decline in the disease. Improvements in sanitation and the provision of fresh water have seen marked declines in typhoid and cholera, with tuberculosis under control. New medical problems include a rising rate of HIV/AIDS, although it is still low compared to many other countries, and also a rise in diseases and conditions associated with greater affluence such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes.

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