KABUL -- Head of the Center for Controlling Disease at Iran's Health Ministry, Mohammad Mehdi Gooya met on Thursday with Afghan Health Minister Suhaila Sidiq in which he expressed Iran's readiness to help control and prevent the spread of contagious disease such as Tuberculosis, Malaria and Cholera in Afghanistan.

Iran, he said, will render any assistance in the sector to neighboring Afghanistan, IRNA reported.

After the meeting, he told reporters that Iran is to train Afghan doctors in control programs for disease such as Malaria and Cholera and is to set up special programs on immunity against such diseases.

Such measures help prevent spread of disease to Iran, he said, adding that over 50 percent of such diseases have now being spread in Iran by Afghan refugees.

Treatment of the Afghan patients who suffer such disease is free of charge in Iran, he added.

"We have invited a number of Afghan doctors to a 45-day course in Bandar Abbas to be held in August-September," he said.

Iran is also ready to dispatch officers specializing in disease control to Afghanistan, he pointed out.

Afghan health minister told IRNA that her country welcomes Iran's assistance in preventing and controlling disease.

Lack of medical facilities, extended period of civil war and drought have led to spread of disease during the summer in Afghanistan, she said.

Due to lack of facilities and low public information, the death toll in the country is very high, said the minister.

The 23-year civil war has devastated the country's facilities, she said adding that her ministry will give priority to the reconstruction of hospitals and health centers.