About 350 traditional medicines are presently available in the country, said advisor to the health minister. Mohammad Reza Shams-Ardekani referred to the current year named after National Production and Supporting Iranian Labor and Capital and said thanks to the strategies adopted by the ninth and tenth governments, the country has made a significant improvement in the field of traditional medicine, Mehr News Agency reported. The official noted that a number of centers offering traditional health treatment services will be introduced to the people, adding that training courses on issues related to health will be offered in these centers. “Traditional medicine can be used for treating many patients,” he said, noting that fortunately traditional medicine has been officially recognized in the country.
Shams-Ardekani went on to say that faculties of traditional medicines, which have been established in various cities, offer training courses to students in cooperation with Tehran Medical University. The advisor also said 200 students are presently studying traditional medicine and pharmacy nationwide.
“Thanks to the country’s climatic diversity, a large number of herbal drugs are being produced in the country,” he said. Shams-Ardekani hoped that the ground will be prepared for the export of Iranian herbal drugs to foreign countries. Hussein Sadeqi, the scientific secretary of National Conference of Herbal Dugs, said only 10 percent of Iranian people use herbal medicines. He said about 7 percent of European people use herbal medicines to treat diseases.
The National Conference on Traditional Medicines, held during Aug. 26-29, can be considered a big step toward achieving a dynamic economy.
Sadeqi noted that getting acquainted with the methods of producing herbal medicines, ecology of plants and status of herbal medicines in the country were among the main issues discussed in the conference.
Health minister’s advisor, Abbas Haji-Akhoundi, said earlier the faculties of traditional medicine are responsible for determining the scope of activities of physicians dispensing traditional medicine. He added that traditional medicine should be developed and modernized. “Given the significant potential of traditional Islamic and Iranian medical science, the measure can solve a number of problems facing the country’s health sector,” he said. Haji-Akhoundi said classic and modern medical sciences, like the traditional field, are constantly facing new diseases and disorders for which they have no treatment, therefore more researches and studies should be conducted to solve the problems.