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Iran
HEALTH AND WELFARE
Medical Personnel and Facilities
According to the Iranian Medical Association (IMA), in 1986 there
were 12,300 physicians and 1,700 dentists in Iran. Medical support
personnel of all kinds were in short supply, with the total number
of nurses estimated at around 7,000. There were about 550 hospitals
throughout the country, with a total of 62,100 beds.
The regional distribution of medical personnel was uneven. The
ratio of patients to physicians in 1986 averaged more than 1,000
to 1 for Tehran, Mashhad, Esfahan, and Shiraz; more than 2,000
to 1 in all other large cities (with more than 100,000 in population);
and more than 4,500 to 1 elsewhere. An estimated 70 percent of
all specialists practiced in Tehran.
Even before the Revolution there was a high rate of emigration
of physicians, most of whom settled in the United States. In March
1976 when there were 12,196 physicians practicing in Iran, there
were an estimated 10,000 other Iranian physicians practicing abroad.
During the revolution there was a major exodus of physicians;
the IMA has estimated that about 7,000--40 percent of the total--have
left the country since the Revolution, contributing to a severe
shortage.
The Islamic Republic has sought to increase the number of all
medical personnel and to expand medical facilities. Health clinics
and dispensaries have been constructed in lower income neighborhoods
of the large cities, in small towns, and in villages. The medical
schools at Tehran and Shiraz universities have developed programs
for training paramedical personnel, and more students have been
admitted to medical schools. Nevertheless, the facilities for
training physicians remained inadequate, and fewer than 750 doctors
were graduated from medical schools between 1980 and 1986. The
IMA has said that Iran needs a total of at least 50,000 physicians
to provide the whole population with minimally adequate health
care.
Data as of December 1987
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