Legal challenges of rehabilitation services in Iran: The framework of the health system functions model of the World Health Organization

Similar to many countries, Iran is committed to achieving universal health coverage. As such several laws have been approved regarding rehabilitation services. Examining these laws shows that there are many legal challenges in the functions of the health system including procurement, financing, resource production, service delivery and accountability, and service quality. Also, the problems of governance in Iran include unbalanced policies and laws, irresponsible intervention, weak all-round supervision, lack of thoughtful and compassionate management, and inconsistency within and between departments. In addition, rehabilitation financing in Iran is unbalanced. In the third chapter of the law of the sixth development plan, the challenges and problems of supportive institutions, especially the lack of credit and coverage gaps were brought into attention. It was emphasized that the needs cannot be met with direct support approaches. Contrary to many countries that have specific laws for recording and analyzing information for disabled people, Iran is in its initial stages of forming a database for them. Furthermore, the comprehensive law on the protection of the rights of the disabled in 2013 is not a right-oriented law emphasizing the recognition, and does not guarantee their rights equal to ordinary people; instead, it has a welfare perspective on the issue. The presence of government organizations such as Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, and the National Welfare Organization has caused the law to become a support-economic with the dominant discourse of rehabilitation instead of empowering disabled people and becoming a budget-oriented law.