Iran casts health system as frontline pillar of nat’l resilience amid wartime pressure
Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Minister Reza Salehi-Amiri on Monday cast Iran’s healthcare and emergency apparatus as a core pillar of national stability, after visiting the National Emergency Organization of Iran and holding talks with Health Minister Mohammadreza Zafarghandi.
At the 115 emergency call center in Tehran, Salehi-Amiri, accompanied by emergency chief Jafar Miadfar, reviewed dispatch operations and praised responders for sustaining rapid, round-the-clock intervention under pressure.
He described the emergency network as both a life-saving mechanism and a visible guarantor of public confidence, linking response speed to perceptions of state effectiveness.
Figures presented during the visit pointed to the scale of recent strain. Miadfar said more than 34,000 people were injured and 3,375 killed during the war period, with 268 cities hit and over one million calls logged.
Despite damage to 56 emergency bases, roughly 62% of ambulances and dozens of hospital buildings, services continued without interruption, including more than 400 births carried out in ambulances.
In parallel talks at the Health Ministry, Zafarghandi emphasized the system’s operational continuity and nationwide coverage, underscoring that hospitals, pharmacies and emergency units remained functional despite infrastructure hits and surging demand. He highlighted the sector’s capacity to absorb shocks and maintain access to medicines and care, framing it as critical to crisis governance and public reassurance.
Salehi-Amiri, echoing that assessment, labeled the health sector a “third pillar of national power” alongside military forces and society, arguing it underwrites both frontline endurance and civilian welfare.
He said the sector’s contribution had been underrepresented in public narratives despite its centrality to managing wartime pressures.
The ministers also pointed to shifting social behavior during the Nowruz period, with nearly 29.7 million trips recorded but formal accommodation usage plunging to 4% from about 80% a year earlier. Around 4.7 million people traveled to rural areas, reflecting what officials described as a move toward perceived safety zones. Authorities reported minimal disruption to essential goods supply and healthcare access during the mass movement.
Zafarghandi stressed that uninterrupted service delivery, even in degraded conditions, helped prevent shortages and stabilize public sentiment, while Salehi-Amiri called for stronger communication of healthcare efforts to ease psychological strain.
He said visible readiness, from emergency roadside coverage to functioning pharmacies, was key to reinforcing social calm.
Both ministers framed the health and emergency systems as decisive in sustaining national resilience, combining operational continuity with public trust at a time of acute pressure.