On Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended the parliament session to defend his nominee.
The parliament gave Tarighat Monfared the confidence vote by a slim margin. Out of 224 parliamentarians present, 12 abstained, 113 voted for and 99 voted against him.
After dismissing Marziyeh Vahid-Dastjerdi, the sole female cabinet minister, from the health minister post, Ahmadinejad appointed Tariqat-Monfared, who is an ophthalmologist, as caretaker health minister through a decree on December 27, 2012.
Dastjerdi was the Islamic Republic’s first and only female minister and her dismissal came less than a year before her term drew to an end.
On December 31, 2012, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said during a meeting with a number of benefactors of the health sector in Tehran that Iranian officials should act in a way that the people do not feel worried about healthcare issues.
“Officials and the conscientious should make plans and conduct administrative affairs in such a way that the people’s minds will be at ease about the issue of (medical) treatment,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
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The Islamic Republic of Iran's Majlis (Parliament) has approved to make Mohammad Hassan Tariqat Monfared the country’s new health minister.
News ID 184483
