IRIMC President, Dr. Alireza Zali, warmly greeted AUVA & Vienna Medical Council Presidents accompanied by Ms. Saidi, Austrian Embassy Marketing Manager and emphasized that the relations between Iran & Austria has a long historical background dated back to 19th century.

On Saturday 7 May 2017, there was an official meeting between IRIMC President & Prof. Dr. Thomas Szekeres & Dr. Anton Ofner; Presidents of Vienna Medical Council and Austrian Workers’ Compensation Board respectively.

Dr. Zali acknowledged the consistent efforts of the IRIMC Department of International Affairs, valuable contributions of Ms. Saidi as well as great support of the Austrian Ambassador and said:”During the mandate of His Excellency Dr. Friedrich Stift, the Honorable Ambassador of Austria of Iran, the relations between Iranian & Austrian healthcare professionals flourished.. “

”A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between IRIMC and WKO Health Department under the auspices of the Austrian Embassy which opened a new chapter in the scientific collaboration between 2 countries and put the medical, dental and pharmaceutical cooperation in a new level.”He added.

IRIMC President mentioned that Iranian Medical Council is the nation's largest independent and Non-Governmental Organization in the field of medicine which regulates almost all Iranian healthcare professionals and advocacy for health care professionals' and patients' right is one of its main objectives.

“Representing more than 241,000 registered members including 135000 registered physicians, IRIMC is the umbrella organization which regulates bi or multilateral collaborations between Iranian healthcare professionals and other organizations. All national private hospitals and health-related associations are affiliated to IRIMC. Composing of 196 regional branches, Iranian Medical Council is committed to promote medical practice and strives to achieve highest possible standards in national healthcare system.” He said

The Extraordinary University Professor award winner, Fellow of the European Board of Polyvalent Medical Biopathology, specialist in Medical & Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics as well as Medical Genetics, Prof. Dr. Thomas Szekeres is an internationally recognized medical scientist and the president of Vienna Medical Council since 2012.

The President of Vienna Medical Council was very pleased to meet with IRIMC president and highly appreciated warm welcome of IRIMC official bodies. Dr. Thomas Szekeres strongly welcomed the new approach of Iranian Medical Council presided by Dr. Zali and expressed his willingness to facilitate academic & professional cooperation between healthcare professionals of two countries. The professional cooperation may include facilitating the enrolment of Iranian doctors in short-term courses held in Austria as well as active cooperation between Iranian Medical Council & Vienna Medical Council as two regulatory authorities.

As the President of Austrian Workers’ Compensation Board (AUVA) and WKO Vice President, DDr. Anton Ofner mentioned about workers’ accident insurance policy in Austria.

“AUVA is the social insurance for occupational risks for more than 3.3 million employees and 1.4 million pupils and students. It is financed mainly by contributions paid by employers. The insurance premiums portion paid by employers is 1.3% of monthly salary of workers. AUVA legal duties are: prevention of occupational accidents and diseases, occupational medical care, first aid for occupational accidents, post traumatic treatment, rehabilitation, financial compensation, research as well as public awareness campaigns to reduce workplace accidents.” He said.

"AUVA has 7 trauma centers and 4 rehabilitation centers nationwide to achieve its objectives. We allocated a considerable amount of our fund for prevention of workplace accidents & public awareness campaigns which resulted in dramatic decrease of occupational accidents in 2016.”Dr. Ofner remarked.

Dr. Ofner expressed his willingness to cooperate with AUVA counterpart organizations in Iran under the auspices of Iranian Medical Council and highly appreciated warm welcome of IRIMC president to conduct such a productive discussion.

The Austrian and IRIMC official bodies believed that big strides have been made in the relations of healthcare professionals of two countries and vowed to boost the bilateral cooperation to a more excellent level.

The meeting was inaugurated by Dr. Naghavi, IRIMC Director of International Affairs who welcomed distinguished guests and briefly introduced IRIMC president and the scope of IRIMC activities and relations between Austrian and Iranian healthcare professionals.

Dr. Naghavi was assigned by IRIMC President to coordinate bilateral future cooperation, to do necessary negotiations and to provide requested information.

PR Director General and IRIMC President Advisor for junior doctors as well as one of international affairs councilors accompanied Dr. Zali.