Iran exports $7mln animal drugs to Persian gulf countries

A senior Iranian official announced on Wednesday that the country exported over$7mln of veterinary medicines to the Persian Gulf littoral states and other countries in the Middle-East in the last Iranian year (March 21,2010-March 20,2011)."$7mln worth of drugs was exported to the Middle-East and also the Persian Gulf states last year," Director-General of the Iranian Veterinary Organization's Office of Medicine and Treatment Seyed Mostafa Aziziyan told FNA today. He announced that over 95% of the country's needs to animal drugs are produced domestically, adding that 126 manufacturing companies and plants are actively producing animal drugs in Iran. Earlier, a senior Iranian legislator had announced that the country produces 97% of its needs to different types of human and animal drugs and medications. "Iran is almost self-sufficient in producing drugs and 97% of the different needed medications are produced inside the country," Rapporteur of the parliament's Health Commission Hassan Tamini said in September. He also reiterated that Iranian experts and scientists produce 85% of the country's needed disposable medical tools and equipment, and expressed the hope that the figure would increase to 100% at the end of the country's Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015). Earlier this year, Iranian Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi had boasted the country's astonishing progress in producing medical tools, equipment and drugs, saying that Iran ranks first in synthesizing different drugs and medications in the region. Iran has taken wide strides in science and technology, particularly in medical and medicinal fields, in recent years.