Tahereh Jafari said PIHO was a leading body in healthcare services, adding: “The family doctor project was launched in healthcare centers years ago. It was a key step in upgrading social health.”

She added: “PIHO is the administrative body in charge of petroleum industry health. By presenting a different package of services, it will upgrade the quality of life. In this regard, a variety of plans have become operational to train the family health team.”

Jafari said: “Currently, there are 64 active medical centers in various areas. Our objective is to identify factor risk and disease causes which threaten health so that the petroleum industry family would be exposed to less risk. That would not materialize without presenting a medical service package that would control the complications of diseases.”

She reiterated the need for reaching a point of stability in diagnosing non-contagious chronic diseases, saying: “Compared with national statistics in controlling diabetes, lipid disorder and hypertension we are in good conditions.”

Jafari said the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education was to embark on the blood pressure campaign in order to identity the patients. “To that end, PIHO has taken effective steps. In addition to identifying hypertensive patients, it has taken effective steps to control diseases and reduce complications of diseases.”

“PIHO has prioritized controlling cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and obesity,” she said.

Jafari said chronic diseases were controlled at 65%, adding that controlling measures were under way. 

She said that in the last calendar year, diagnosis of diseases and controlling blood pressure and lipid diseases were done in line with the latest international achievements. 

“These instructions are being pursued more seriously this year and videoconference meetings have been held since the start of the current [calendar] year,” she said.

Jafari said a population of 54,000 persons underwent cardiovascular factor risk assessment last calendar year, adding that nearly 5,000 of them were more than 20% likely to suffer cardiovascular diseases.

“This campaign helped us identify patients with high risk and present them with health-oriented plans in order to prevent any accident or serious disease,” he added.

Jafari said plan under way by PIHO in the family medicine sector in the current calendar year was intervention and care in addition to diagnosis of disease.

She said under a justice-based approach, a list was drawn up of persons with high health costs “so that we would be able to accomplish our mission based on the principles of justice in health”.

“A full assessment of individual and family health is done and on such basis periodical tests for people suffering from diseases causing physical disability would be performed. Another modern approach in family health is on the agenda in partnership with occupational health and corporates,” she said. “Inviting employees with high health risks to family health centers for checkup by engaging their families in the care programs and inviting employed women to refer to family healthcare centers to receive care programs and follow up on their diseases are among plans for this year.”