M'sia, Iran partner to strengthen health cooperation
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has established health cooperation with Iran to strengthen the country's health system and open up space for knowledge sharing in the pharmaceutical sector, medical technology applications, and excellent clinical practices.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that Iran's expertise, especially in organ transplantation programmes, can potentially improve the quality of treatment in Malaysia.
In a post via X today, MOH announced that in line with the aspirations of the Health White Paper, bilateral cooperation is expected to provide benefits, including increasing the expertise of health workers through exchange programmes, joint training, and collaborative research.
The move, he said, will produce highly skilled health human resources and become the main pillar of a resilient and efficient health system.
In addition, collaboration in public health research, nutrition and management of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) is significant in shaping a healthier and more productive Malaysian society.
Separately, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said in his brief bilateral meeting with Iran's Health Minister, Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi who highlighted his country's advanced achievements and best practice in the area of organ transplant surgeries with over 2,000 liver transplants and 1,200 kidney transplants performed across 20 centres throughout the country in 2024.
'The sheer number of successful donor pledges further encourages the agenda for Malaysia to follow suit having similar barriers to overcome in terms of religious sentiments towards organ donation,' he said in a post on X.
Dzulkefly said Malaysia must go beyond 'Saya sudah Berikrar' to 'Warisku Hormati Ikrar' ('I've Pledged' to 'My Family, Respect My Pledge Please'), creating a culture that truly honours the donor's wishes.
He said in Malaysia, organ transplant is the best solution or the gold standard to ensure quality of life for those with chronic kidney disease (CKD), especially with end-stage renal failure on dialysis.
'There are also areas of exploration in terms of fellowships, trainings for our surgeons, post-basic training for nurses as well as potential for sharing of technologies, research, development and pharmaceuticals, that shall be seriously pursued,' he said.
Dzulkefly is currently in Geneva, Switzerland, leading the Malaysian delegation to the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA78) from May 18 to 22.
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