After dismissing Vahid-Dastjerdi, the sole female cabinet minister, from the post, Ahmadinejad appointed Mohammad Hassan Tariqat-Monfared as caretaker health minister through a decree on Thursday, December 27, 2012.
“Managing the family physician plan, [attending to problems related to] medicines and treatment [of diseases], attention to public health and nutrition, [ensuring] educational, health, and medical justice, and reducing people’s expenses in this sector are the main priorities of this important ministry,” Ahmadinejad said in his decree to Tariqat-Monfared.
Dastjerdi was the first Iranian female minister after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and her removal comes less than a year before her term draws to an end.
