TEHRAN - A new cancer treatment hospital equipped with more than 600 beds was inaugurated in Tehran on Tuesday.

Affiliated with the Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex and run by the Cancer Institute of Iran, the hospital is comprised of education, research, diagnosis and treatment sections, ISNA reported.

The hospital has also 103 special beds, 19 operating rooms, 6 homecare beds, and 12 emergency beds.

The history of the Cancer Institute dates back to 1949, when a cancer hospital was established as a result of a collaborative agreement between Tehran University Medical School and the Red Crescent Society.

The hospital provided surgical, pathological, and outpatient services to cancer patients nationwide.

In 1950, the radiotherapy unit was established and one year later, under an agreement with the World Health Organization, the first cobalt unit in the Institute was established and radiotherapeutic services were provided to patients.

In 1960, cytotechnology and in 1962 experimental units were added to the hospital. By 1970, when it was renamed the Cancer Institute of Iran, it was fully equipped and included pathology, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, medical genetics, and experimental research laboratory.

Now the Cancer Institute consists of 14 departments and acts as a leading center in campaigns involving all aspects of cancer control, from generating population data (population-based cancer registry) to state of the art patient care at a national level.

Annually about 10,000 cancer patients receive inpatient and outpatient care in different departments of the Cancer Institute of Iran.