R&D Funding Poor

The Health Ministry accounts for 30% of the country’s scientific production, while its share is only 12% of the total research budget, said deputy minister for technology and research. “Besides, the ministry has only 11% of the total faculty members or researchers,” said Reza Malekzadeh at the inauguration ceremony of a pharmaceutical production line in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Province on Saturday, its news agency ‘Webda’ reported. The ministry’s research budget is 5,000 billion rials ($132 million), which equals the amount that 20 international researchers receive for their projects, he noted. The ministry’s annual budget is 99.4 trillion rials ($2.6 billion).