Traffic accidents daily kill 52 people in Iran

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 25

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Traffic accidents leave averagely 52 people dead every day in Iran, an official at the Iranian health ministry said.

Iranian deputy health minister, Ali Akbar Sayyari said that some 800,000 people are being hospitalized every year due to car accidents, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on April 25.

The rate of traffic accidents in Iran is around 20 times the world average, according to a 2012 report by UNICEF.

Traffic fatalities cost Iran's economy about $6 billion every year, the report said.

Sayyari went on to say that every year some 30,000 Iranians die of cancer, adding that each cancer patient costs about $8000(based on official rate of 25,500 rials per each USD) for the country.

Iranian media outlets claim that cancer is the third top reason for deaths in Iran. Official statistics in Iran say there are about 63,000 cases of cancer reported in the country annually.

Some 41,000 people died in Iran due to cancer during the Iranian calendar year of 1391(ended on March 21, 2013), and annually about 85,000 people catch cancer in the country, according to the head of Cancer Research Center in Iran, Mohammad Ismayil Akbari.

Sayyari also remarked that air pollution is another factor which is threatening Iranians' life, adding that the pollution kills two people in capital city of Tehran each hour.

The air over Iran's capital, Tehran, is among the most polluted in the world. Experts say many Iranians suffer serious health problems as a result.

Last year, according to PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), Iran had 147 days during which air quality was substandard. Two years ago, this number stood at 217 days.

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