The deputy health minister for education affairs, Bagher Larijani and a team of Iraqi medical officials in a meeting Thursday in reached initial agreements on cooperation in scientific and educational projects. One major agreement calls for the construction of Iraq’s first foreign medical university by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) under the supervision of Iran’s Health Ministry.
“Iran’s Health Ministry is willing to utilize its educational potential to cooperate in expanding the sphere of medical sciences in the neighboring countries,” Larijani told the visiting Iraqis, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iraq’s deputy minister of higher education and scientific research, Muhammad Siraj appreciated Tehran’s support to build the medical university in his country. “We welcome cooperation with the Iranian ministry given the current conditions in Iraq and the scope of its needs for health infrastructure development.”
Between 30%-40% of education in Iraq is conducted by private sectors and the country lacks university professors in the field of medical sciences, Siraj said.
The neighboring Arab country is saddled with decades of war and destruction. Its problems in recent years have been aggravated by the onslaught of the medieval terror group, the so-called IS and its mercenaries.
According to Larijani Iran can train Iraqi medical students if Iraq desires. The students will be educated in the country’s prestigious universities “but cannot work in Iran after graduation.”
In the meeting it was agreed that a joint committee be formed comprising health authorities from both sides to follow up the terms of mutual agreement.
Iran and Iraq fought a bloody war in the 1980s. But the two neighbors now enjoy close political and economic ties. Tehran has close relations with most Iraqi political groups and is a major contributor to Baghdad’s anti-terror campaign.
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