According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology affairs, mentioned during the ceremony of signing a joint cooperation agreement between the Vice-Presidency and the ministry of health: by signing a joint cooperation with the support of the Vice-Presidency and ministry of health, the foundation will be laid for development of knowledge-based companies and startups in the area of digital health and a new ecosystem of startups will be formed that leads to the creation of a new market with the title of digital health.

The president of the knowledge-based economy and culture building technologies development headquarter pointed out the key role of digital technologies in transforming the health area to create occupations and a high added-value, expressing: digital health is a serious issue not only in the world but also in Iran, in a way that the digital health penetration rate is far beyond the sales force of technology companies and is one of the top areas in the field of new businesses.

In addition to appreciating the support provided by Dr. Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Sattari regarded signing a joint cooperation agreement with the ministry of health as a step toward the development of ecosystem of businesses in the digital health area.

Sattari continued: this area will transform the diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the future, and new innovations entering the field will improve the quality of the field of health, bringing together the field of convergence in various fields of science and technology.

The vice president for science and technology affairs reminded the key role of technology in health, asserting: in the near future, the digital health field will resolve diagnostic techniques and highlight the presence of engineers in the hospital, and we will go over to high-precision medical devices to diagnose illnesses.

In this ceremony, Ghazizadeh Hashemi mentioned the necessity of passing from traditional mechanisms and using digital technologies, expressing: with the cooperation of the Vice-Presidency, the field of development of digital technologies in the field of health has been given to existing capacities, and we hope that this will lead people to have more well-being pay less costs for treatment procedures.

Effect of Penetration of Technology and Innovation into the Area of Supply of Health Needs

The minister of health pointed out the role of knowledge-based and technological companies in improving the health area of the country, affirming: for instance, a knowledge-based company proposed a project with an emphasis on the low number of radiology graduates and the high need of the country to these experts in order to meet this need with the cooperation of university. This shows that to what extent the penetration of innovation and technology can help the supply of needs in the area of health.

Ghazizadeh Hashemi expressed his hope about signing the agreement and help provided by the Vice-Presidency to solve the future problems in presence of innovative and technological companies in traditional structures of treatment and diagnosis. However, he pointed out that new achievements in this field must be exploited by the deputies of ministry of health.

Another Step toward the Development of Digital Health

It is worth noting that the joint cooperation agreement is signed between the Vice-Presidency and the ministry of health with the goal of improving the technological and production abilities of businesses in the area of digital health, developing the domestic and international market for digital health services and products.

Moreover, organizing, coordinating and implementing effective and purposeful support of digital health businesses, targeted support of commercialization of products and services in this field with an approach to increase competitiveness in businesses of the field are on the agenda of the two organizations.

Regulation and implementation of standards and constant enhancement of quality of products and services along with helping the penetration and distribution of information and communication technologies in processes of production and sale of health products are other goals of this agreement.

Furthermore, a strategic committee encompassing the members of Seyed Mohammad Hadi Ayazi, the social deputy of ministry of health (head of the committee), Reza Malekzadeh, deputy of research and technology of ministry of health, Ali Akbar Haghdoust, strategic planning and coordination deputy of ministry of health, Gholamreza Soghra, head of food and drug organization, Seyed Mahmoud Tara, head of information technology and statistics center of the ministry of health (secretary of the committee), Esmaeil Ghaderidar, head of strategic technologies development headquarter, Mahdi Faghihi, secretary of information, communication and cyberspace technologies development headquarter, Parviz Karami, secretary of knowledge-based economy, technology and science development headquarter, Mostafa Ghanei, secretary of biotechnology development headquarter, Mostafa Ghanei, secretary of biotechnology development headquarter, two experts in the area of digital health (confirmed by the head of the committee), and two experts in the area of innovation and entrepreneurship (confirmed by the head of the committee) will be formed to realize the goals of the agreement.