TEHRAN, Mar. 16 (MNA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the Islamic Republic's "Family Health Program" as an Iranian initiative and registered it in the name of the country.

The program was registered in the name of the country on Friday in line with an announcement made by WHO's regional official for Europe.

In line with the initiative, each Iranian is assigned an electronic healthcare file based on their national identity number.

The file is used to record all of the individual's health-related information, which can be accessed only by the doctors and healthcare staff members, who would address their situation. The information recorded in the file by general practitioners is, accordingly, ready for access by specialty doctors if the need arises.

As many as 27 million Iranians are covered by the program, which started being implemented across the country last year.

Also on Friday, Iran's Health Minister Bahram Einollahi attended a meeting of his counterparts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, enumerating the country's healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical achievements.

Speaking on the sidelines of the gathering, the senior health official hailed the "very growing" trend of provision of access for the Iranian people to clean potable water. He also noted that the Family Health Program had been recognized as the "central plank" of the Iranian society's healthcare-related affairs.

"These achievements have been noted by the SCO's member countries, and these countries have been calling for university-level cooperation and also cooperation in the fields of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment with the Islamic Republic," he said.

AMK/PressTV