We do not have even a single standard burn bed in the public sector

The head of Shahid Motahari Hospital for Accidents and Burns, while sharply criticizing the serious weaknesses in prevention, the shortage of standard burn beds, and insurance-related problems in modern burn treatments, emphasized that burn care has been severely neglected within the country’s healthcare system. He stressed that without the support of the media and the enforcement of existing laws, it will not be possible to reduce the burden of these injuries.

Dehmardeh, in another part of his remarks, pointed to the infrastructural conditions of burn hospitals and said: “I state explicitly that in the public sector, we do not have even a single standard burn bed. The wards have five or six beds, and proper treatment conditions are not available. In contrast, standard beds do exist in the private sector, but admitting a burn patient requires an advance payment of at least 500 million tomans—an amount that is practically unaffordable for most patients.”

He cited the severe shortage of human resources and burn beds as other fundamental challenges, adding: “We are short of about 1,200 burn beds nationwide. According to the law, all hospitals are required to allocate 10 percent of their beds to psychiatric and burn patients, but this law is not being implemented. On the other hand, building independent burn hospitals is not the right solution, because such centers face difficulties in providing all the necessary specialized services.”