Currently, more than 300,000 people suffer from cancer in the country and annually 90,000 new patients are diagnosed with the disease, said Ali Motlaq, head of the Health Ministry’s Cancer Office. “Cancer rates are increasing both in Iran and the world. In 2014, the number of global cancer cases was 14 million and the figure is estimated to rise to 25 million by 2030,” Salamet News website quoted him as saying. Motlaq pointed to better health insurance coverage for cancer treatment. “The Social Security Organization’s health insurance pays for 90% of the costs of common chemotherapy drugs.”
