An online fundraising charity website (www.yas190.ir) has been launched by the Health Ministry to provide financial support for hospitals and healthcare centers across the country, said social health deputy minister, Seyed Mohammad Ayazi.
“The goal of the website is to make philanthropists familiar with the needs and circumstances of different hospitals and health centers in various regions of Iran and to show them how their contributions, even in a small way, can help improve the quality of healthcare services, in particular in deprived areas,” sepidonline.ir quoted him as saying.
“The provinces are marked in different colors on the website map with the color red indicating that a province is in urgent need of help.”
Philanthropists interested in making a contribution should first choose the name of the province, city, and hospital/ health center that want to help.
They can simply click on a hospital name to see what medical equipment is lacking and the cost of the item. The contributions made for each equipment are also published.
For instance, the Ali Asghar Children Hospital located in Dastgerdi St. is in need of industrial washing machine that costs around $11,600. Also Mofid Charity Children Hospital located in Shariati St. is in need of a dialysis machine which costs $14,500.
The data of all the provincial hospitals is still not available yet but the process is underway. So far, there is no information on hospitals in deprived provinces like Sistan-Baluchstan and South Khorasan.
There is an ‘I want to Help’ button under each item, and by clicking on it philanthropists can donate any amount they want, even less than $1.
So far, nearly 3,600 people have registered on the website. The management of the Yas charity institution is supervised by the government.
Donors are given a tracking code once they make a contribution and by using the code they can peruse the progress of projects. In addition to hospitals, donors can also contribute to research work.
Medical supplies and equipment have a significant impact on the quality of patient care and account for a high proportion of healthcare costs.
At present, there are 550 state-hospitals and 350 private hospitals in the country and many lack advanced hospital equipment.
Earlier, Ayazi said Iranian philanthropists had donated 1.4 million properties such as buildings and land, which shows public enthusiasm for a benevolent cause. In the past 20 months, contributions from benefactors saw the completion of 2,000 school buildings in the country. So it should not be a difficult task for an important sector like health to find patrons.
