HOA’s Role in Advancing Iran’s Healthcare System | Part 3
When a Heart Could Be Treated at Home
Today, open-heart surgery is performed every day in hospitals across Iran. For many people, it is difficult to imagine that there was a time when such procedures were unavailable in the country. Yet only a few decades ago, many patients with complex cardiac diseases faced a painful reality. Their best chance of survival often depended on traveling abroad—a journey that few families could afford and many patients were simply too ill to make. Healthcare leaders recognized that this could not be the future. The answer was not to send more patients overseas. It was to create the capability to care for them at home. This transformation required far more than purchasing sophisticated medical equipment. It demanded a long-term commitment to technology transfer, advanced training for surgeons and clinical teams, the development of specialized cardiac centers, and sustained investment in healthcare infrastructure. The Board of Trustees for Foreign Currency Savings in Patients’ Treatment (HOA) became an important part of this national effort. By supporting access to advanced medical technologies and helping strengthen the foundations of specialized care, HOA contributed to the development of a healthcare system capable of delivering complex cardiac procedures within the country. The impact extended far beyond cardiac surgery itself. New generations of surgeons were trained. Multidisciplinary teams were formed. Specialized hospitals expanded their capabilities. Patients gained timely access to life-saving care closer to their families, while the experience accumulated in these centers laid the groundwork for further advances in cardiovascular medicine. Today, Iran performs complex cardiac procedures that once required treatment abroad, and its cardiac centers have become trusted referral destinations for patients from across the region. The story of cardiac surgery reminds us that healthcare transformation is not achieved by importing technology alone. It is achieved by building knowledge, developing institutions, and investing in people who transform technology into better care. Because every successful operation begins long before a patient enters the operating room. It begins with a vision to build national capability.