TEHRAN – The Iranian House of Innovation and Technology (iHiT) in Indonesia is planning to set up pavilions of Iranian knowledge-based companies in the health sector at the 37th Indonesia Health Expo 2025, which will be held from September 25 to 28.

As the largest medical exhibition in South East Asia, the exhibition will display the latest advancements in medical, pharmaceutical, clinical laboratory equipment, and medicine.

The event will serve as a great opportunity for Iranian knowledge-based firms and manufacturers to showcase their capabilities and products in the strategic South East Asian market and lay the ground for the expansion of international cooperation with industry leaders and healthcare professionals from around the world.

Self-sufficiency in medicine, medical equipment is a priority

The issue of medicine and medical equipment production and self-sufficiency in these areas is one of the government’s priorities, Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi has said.

Medicine and medical equipment are two important areas related to people’s health, he said, adding: “We are trying to reach self-sufficiency for the supply of medicine and medical equipment,” IRNA reported.

On January 13, the head of Iran’s Union of Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters said that medical equipment worth around $20 million is exported to more than 60 countries annually.

More than 70 percent of medical equipment and 100 percent of normal hospital beds are domestically made, IRNA quoted Abdolreza Yaqoubzadeh as saying.

Also, over 95 percent of specific ICU and CCU beds and more than 85 percent of operating room medical equipment, such as anesthesia machines and other equipment, are manufactured with cutting-edge technology in the country, he added.

Yaqoubzadeh went on to say that the country’s need for medical equipment production is three to four billion dollars per year, some one billion dollars of which is imported.

Some 600 medical equipment companies are active in the country, producing around 99 percent of the medicine supplied to the domestic market. 

Medical equipment manufacturers in the country produce and supply over 10,000 types of medical equipment to domestic and foreign markets. Now, various pieces of laboratory equipment are manufactured at prices much lower than the same foreign products.

In May, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) director for the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) said Iran is a leading country in expanding its healthcare system and providing access to universal health coverage.

Lauding the country’s achievements in recent years, Hanan Balkhi said expanding primary health care services, increasing access to health coverage in rural areas, maintaining high vaccination rates, and reducing maternal and newborn mortality, Iran has managed to become a successful role model in the region, the health ministry’s website reported.

The official made the remarks in a meeting with Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA).

WHO EMRO is working closely with the Iranian regulatory institutions to achieve regulatory maturity level 3 in the pharmaceutical regulatory system to pave the way for broader exports of Iranian health-oriented products to global markets; it will also contribute to promoting global health security, Balkhi added.

MT/MG