The Increase in the Number of Medicinal Plants Knowledge-based Companies

The deputy minister of Traditional Medicine of Ministry of Health and Medical Sciences, Dr. Mahmoud Khodadoust, in an interview with IRNA said, “Apart from the research done in the traditional medicine faculties, the other medical majors have also greatly welcomed this issue.”

He pointed to the weak link between this issue and the industry and added, “The reason for the university academic members and students’ encouragement to establish knowledge-based companies in the past two years, is to strengthen this link.”

Khodadoust noted that the majority of the researches in this field will remain in the form of research plans due to the weak link it has with the industry, he then stressed, “The connection with the knowledge-based companies will determine the grounds for the research plans’ transformation into products.”

He also referred to the rise in the number of production licenses of medicinal plants and stated, “Food and Drug Administration of Iran has also increased the number of production and exploitation licenses of herbal medicine in order to prepare the grounds for the growth of production and ultimately the promotion of medicinal plants’ usage in the society.”

The Exploitation of Health Networks’ Abilities for Promotion of Herbal Medicine Consumption

Referring to the exploitation of the abilities and capacities of the health and treatment networks in the country for the promotion of herbal medicine consumption, Khodadoust said, “Several educational packages have been prepared to familiarize the personnel of the health and treatment networks with traditional medicine, medicinal plants and herbal medicine.”

He noted that in some of the health and treatment networks  such as those centers under Fasa and Kashan medical universities’ coverage, this plan is being experimentally implemented, then added, “The preliminary actions are being taken to enter these trainings into the health and treatment networks.”

This deputy minister stressed, “This will also be started in some other health and treatment networks within the next two months, to enable the personnel of these health and treatment centers to learn , in different levels, about the traditional and some herbal  medicine.”

He went on to say, “Following this action, some of the commonly used herbal medicine will enter the pharmacies of the health-treatment centers of the country’s health and treatment networks.”

Pointing to the nonexistence of the subjects such as traditional medicine and herbal medicine in the past in the educational curriculums of the medical society, Khodadoust said, ” Some actions have been taken in order to familiarize the different medical majors, such as the addition of two units of traditional and complementary medicine to the medical major courses, and the advantage points for the participation in conferences of the various medical majors who deal with traditional medicine, all these for the doctors to prescribe herbal medicine with proper knowledge.”

Source: IRNA