In the next three years, all health centers in the country will be covered under the health reform plan. The health services will be free at primary level and many of the secondary and tertiary services will be covered by insurance, said Dr. Behzad Damari, head of the Health Ministry’s department of non-communicable diseases.
Under the plan, all Iranians above six years will be issued new health cards.
After preliminary physical and mental health evaluation of each individual, health experts will mark ‘risk factors’ in the cards. The individual’s health in relation to other people in the same age group will be assessed and health cards in three colors will be issued: for serious health risks, red cards; average health, yellow cards and green cards for healthy people.
“In the medical evaluation, all risk factors which are the cause of premature death in our country will be examined. These include, diet quality, level of activity, smoking, use of tobacco and drugs, blood pressure, blood fat, blood sugar and osteoporosis.”, he said.
Preventive Care
In addition, the possibility of heart and brain stroke will be considered for individuals over 40. If the risks are higher than 30 percent, preventive care will start at the center.
People with red cards should visit the physician regularly; they will receive reminders. People with yellow cards will receive health counseling and guidelines toward improving their health and people with green cards will be encouraged to continue with the same health care and lifestyle.
At present, a pilot project in Mohammediyeh city of Qazvin Province is underway where each health center will cover 12,500 people and screen them in terms of “risk factors” of non-communicable or chronic diseases, IRNA reported.
The centers will also have social workers, to support individuals with social problems, such as unemployment and families with disabled, mentally ill or imprisoned members.
