TEHRAN –Mehdi Maskani, the head of Iran’s Civil Servants Pension Fund, has been elected as the vice-chairperson of the Technical Commission on Organization, Management, and Innovation of the International Social Security Association (ISSA).

Effective delivery of social security to citizens depends on social security institutions having solid management and organizational structures, and this is the focus of the Technical Commission on Organization, Management, and Innovation.

Social security institutions play a significant role in the lives of citizens. They constitute the core of governments’ capacity to design, implement, and deliver adequate social security benefits and services. To do so, institutions must run efficiently and reliably, provide services to the public that are clear to understand and effective for various population groups, provide confidence about members’ rights and obligations, and provide benefits and services even in the most extreme situations.

Currently, 17 insurance organizations worldwide are members of the Technical Commission.

ISSA has 13 commissions and two specialized working groups, whose members are composed of insurance organizations around the world.

The roots of the ISSA lie in mutual insurance, the collective response of 19th-century European industrial workers to illness, unemployment, disability, and old age.

In the space of nine decades, the ISSA has expanded into a truly worldwide Association, bringing together more than 320 social security organizations in over 150 countries.

With the immense challenges the world is facing, its commitment to promoting social security will be needed more than ever to secure social justice for all.

Health Insurance services

The number of health centers that have concluded contracts with the Health Insurance Organization has increased by seven percent in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21) compared with the past year.

More than 53,000 centers have concluded contracts with Health Insurance Organization so far in the current year, IRNA quoted Keivan Tajbakhsh, an official with the Organization, as saying.

Health insurance contracts have been signed with government, non-government, private, and charity centers for services.

The centers include doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies, rehabilitation centers, and all medical centers.

“We hope to witness an increase in the number of health centers that are parties to the contract with Health Insurance Organization as new forms of the contract, approved by the Supreme Council of Insurance, are announced,” Tajbakhsh said.

He stated that 13,931 pharmacies, 20,804 doctor's offices, 2,049 clinics 2,446 independent laboratories, and 4261 rehabilitation centers, both independent and affiliated with other organizations, have concluded contracts with the Health Insurance Organization.

Health Insurance Organization also offers a variety of services from medical equipment to medicine for infertile couples.

The services include 28 items of medical equipment, 56 laboratory services, 63 drugs for special diseases, 20 surgical services, four subspecialty treatments, and seven medical imaging services, Mohammad-Esmaeil Kameli, an official with the Organization, said.

MT/MG