Publish Date: 17 June 2003 - 21:23

TEHRAN, June 17 (Mehr News Agency) -- Minister of Health Massoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday survived an impeachment vote in the Majlis by winning 170 votes in his favor.

Sixty deputies voted against Pezeshkian while five abstained. A total of 235 of the 290 Majlis deputies participated in the vote. 

 

Pezeshkian had been summoned to the chamber to respond to questions such as why he appointed incompetent directors in the ministry, why the ministry is failing to implement the Constitution, and why it is not appropriately using a loan it received from the World Bank to solve its economic problems.

 

He also had been asked to explain to the deputies the reason for the decline in the academic standards of medical schools, the problems in the area of distribution of drugs throughout the country, as well as the failure of hospitals to implement public health insurance policies.

 

AA/ST

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MNA