MAHAK Hosts WHO Representatives

High rank representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO)along with the representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran visited MAHAK Pediatric Cancer Treatment and Research Center (MPCTRC) on 31, July 2019.

The visitors had a tour of oncology, chemotherapy and pain management wards of MPCTRC. After the tour, a session was held at MAHAK conference hall with the presence of the chairman of MAHAK Hospital and the representatives of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran.

The session opened with an introduction of MAHAK through which the visitors were informed about MAHAK’s numerous fields of performances. Later, Dr. Azim Mehrvar, Head of MPCTRC raised a crucial issue and opened up a discussion regarding the present challenges of MAHAK which are the result of the imposed sanctions.

Dr. Mehrvar mentioned the current challenges as scarcity of high-quality drugs and impossibility of transferring money to and from Iran for purchasing medicines in addition to the increase in the costs which have made medication supplies very costly.

Afterwards, Dr. Christoph Hamelmann, WHO representative in Iran appreciated the cooperation of MAHAK with different UN agencies such as the UN Global Compact and United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and stated that MAHAK has a an important role in pediatric cancer research and treatment in the region.

WHO representative in Iran, in response to the mentioned issues, stated that WHO; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran are working on projects to ease the process of supplying medications for patients in Iran so that such humanitarian supplies become exempted from sanctions.

Moreover, Dr. Naoko Yamamoto, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage and Health Systems, praised MPCTRC for its performance and hoped as the result of the cooperation of WHO and other UN Agencies the imposed problems by sanctions will be resolved.