Nearly 2,000 health stations and 800 healthcare centers were inaugurated across 18 provinces on Saturday, with Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi attending a ceremonial opening in Savojbolagh, Alborz Province. The measure comes in the context of the second phase of the government’s Health Reform Plan launched in April 2014 that aims to extend basic healthcare to residents in outlying and remote regions, IRNA reported. Under the program, one health station is established for every 12,500 people and a comprehensive healthcare center for every 25,000. Screening for non-communicable diseases, counseling in mental health and nutrition, addiction prevention and control, services for vulnerable women, and reducing social harm are among the services offered at the centers opened in Tehran, Alborz, Isfahan, Kerman, Kermanshah, Yazd, Hormozgan, Khorasan Razavi, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Kordestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Hamedan, Qazvin and Qom provinces.
