Iran’s Ministry of Health says that recently, Afghans and Iraqis constitute the majority of visitors to the country’s health department.
Bahram Ainollahi, Iran’s health minister, added that one billion dollars from this understanding enters this country every year.
Although the Minister of Health of Iran did not specify the exact number of Afghan patients in the country’s health sector, he said that last year, including patients from Afghanistan, Iraq and 64 other nationalities, 1.2 million patients went to this country for treatment.
Ainollahi emphasized that 20% of all tourists who go to Iran are health department clients.
Many Afghans have always gone to some neighboring and regional countries for treatment, including Pakistan and India, and have transferred millions of dollars to these countries for their treatment.
A number of these patients stated that the reason for going to Iran and other countries for treatment of their diseases is the lack of proper health facilities in Afghanistan and they say that they do this out of necessity.
Yunus, a resident of Herat Province, says that one of his friends who has anemia, was forced to go to Iran due to the lack of treatment facilities in the country.
Yunus told the media: “One of our friends has an anemia problem. There is a health clinic in our area, but the treatment did not work. He even tried treatment in the center of Herat, but it still did not work. The doctors said that there are no treatment facilities here. He went abroad for treatment, later he went to Iran and came back again, but his problem is still not completely resolved.
