A committee for rare diseases will be set up at the Health Ministry to provide more efficient services to patients, said deputy health minister Mohammad Hadi Ayazi. “The ministry is looking to provide financial assistance in part to those suffering from rare diseases,” he said on the sidelines of an international conference on Rare Diseases on the occasion of World Rare Disease Day (February 29), ILNA reported.
According to Ali Davoudian, director of the Iranian Rare Disease Foundation (a public and non-governmental entity), there are 30,000 people under continuous coverage of the IRDF. “However, none of the rare diseases in the country have so far been supported by the government or covered by insurance organizations,” he told the conferees.
Rare disease is characterized by an incidence of one to five in every 10,000.
