Tehran, May 21 (MRUD NEWS)—The implementation process for the second phase of the 'Project for Improving the Resilience of Hospitals' (BEHTAB II) in cooperation with the UN-Habitat and 'the Executive Organization for Public and Government Buildings and Infrastructures' was kicked off in Sari on May 18, 2023. 

The pilot hospital is the 369-bed Ayatollah Tabarsi Hospital in Mahforujak, Sari which is already under construction with more than 71 percent physical development. 

The project for retrofitting this hospital is funded by the Japanese Government.  

By now, more than 160 billion tomans have been spent for construction of this hospital since last 4 years, and 300 billion tomans more are already allocated for completing the construction.

Ali Nabian, Iran's deputy minister, informed that studies for 11 more hospitals are also underway. 

Kazutoshi Aikawa, the ambassador of Japan to the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Nabian, Deputy Minister and Managing Director of 'the Executive Organization for Public and Government Buildings and Infrastructures', and Arman Khorsand, adviser to the Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Secretary of the National Habitat Committee (NHC) attended the formal visit for beginning of the project. 

Previously, BEHTAB I was successfully completed in Iran as the first phase of the project for improving resilience of hospitals which aims to establish the foundations toward disaster preparedness and enhanced response capacity associated with natural hazards through retrofitting a public hospital in Iran as a pilot case.