Emergency Medical Services in Iran

Mohammadkarim Bahadori, Amirashkan Nasiripur, Shahram Tofighi, Mahmudreza Gohari

Abstract

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Iran, named Emergency 115 was established in 1978 with cooperation from America. In Iran, EMS delivery is financed by the government and is free of charge to those served. Established standards call for a response time of less than eight minutes in cities and less than 15 minutes in suburban areas for 80% of the cases, and this standard has been met everywhere in the country except for Tehran (the capital of Iran). Emergency services coverage for traffic accidents has exceeded 52.3%. In recent years, the Foundation of Medical Emergency Schools has established emergency medicine training programs for both EMS personnel and the general public. Also, personnel of the Iran Medical Emergency and Accidents Management Organization are establishing the standards for hospital emergency procedures and providing oversight of the emergency departments in hospitals. Over all, pre-hospital emergency services have made notable advances, and they are continuing to improve.
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