TEHRAN - Deputy head of the Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) Hamid Pour Asghari has said that Iranian government spending in the healthcare sector has increased by six times in eight years to over $6 billion.
Pour Asghari said that projected annual healthcare spending for the year beginning March 2021 will have reached 1,420 trillion rials, up from 230 trillion rials spent in 2013 when the current administrative government took office.
Pour Asghari said the share of healthcare spending from the entire budget has also increased to 17% from 10% in 2013.
Healthcare spending per capita has risen by over four times in eight years to 13 million rials for the current calendar year, he said, adding that out of pocket payments by patients has fallen significantly to only 10% in urban regions and half that figure for people living in the countryside.
The PBO official said that total number of hospitals in Iran will reach 1,137 at the end of the year to March 2022, an increase of more than 26% compared to records in 2013.
However, number of hospital beds will have increased by over 67% in eight years to a total of 188,000 in March 2022, said Pour Asghari.
Iran has relied on its homegrown healthcare capacities to tackle one of the largest outbreaks of coronavirus pandemic in the Middle East.
That comes as the country has been barred from accessing essential drugs and medical equipment supplies from abroad because of US sanctions.