The rehabilitation wing at the state hospital ‘Rofeideh’ in Tehran has been issued a permit by the Health Ministry and will soon start operating.
“Tariffs at the hospital are considerably lower than private hospitals,” said Dr. Fereydoon Layeqi, managing director, at the recent inauguration ceremony of three wards of the rehab facility.
The hospital has planned five specialty wards, one each for neurological rehabilitation, muscle rehabilitation and physical therapy, rehabilitative surgery, pediatric rehabilitation, as well as a day ward, IRNA reported.
The surgical and day wards will open within the next month, followed by an 18-bed ward for geriatric rehabilitation, Layeqi added.
The hospital will cooperate with several universities. The nerve-blocker neurotoxic protein Botox will also be used to treat a variety of muscle-related disorders.
A group of 22 rehabilitation specialists will support the hospital in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation wards will offer physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, audiology, neurology and psychology services.
“In some cases, families of patients also need to go through social and occupational therapy,” he said.
Insufficient
He criticized the fact that there is only one state-run rehabilitation center in the country, despite the large number of people who need recuperative services due to disability, disorders, or accident injuries.
“According to international standards, there must be one rehabilitation bed for every one million people, which indicates the necessity for at least 70,000 beds in Iran.”
“There are 500 rehabilitation hospitals in Germany, 2,000 in the US, five in Kuwait, and 2,000 in Turkey, while there is only one other rehabilitation hospital in Iran which is private and only partly operational,” he rued, adding that “we are far from global standards.”
A patient in need of rehabilitative services needs practitioners of at least two disciplines. For instance, a stroke patient needs a physiotherapist as well as speech therapist at the same time. The treatment and recovery of rehabilitation patients are longer and costly, he said.
In England, patients are relocated to a rehabilitation facility within 72 hours of medical intervention. But in Iran, rehab facilities and services are expensive.
One of the major problems is lack of support from insurance companies. In addition, insurance tariffs for such patients are nonspecific. For instance, quadriplegics (with high severity) and patients with knee arthritis (lower severity) are charged the same tariffs.
“Investing in the rehabilitation sector will prevent secondary side effects including bedsores, infections, respiratory diseases and bladder control disorders, which result in more economic costs.”
The hospital is located on Soleimani Street in Tehran’s northeastern Qeytarieh District.
