How to check a doctor and a hospital in Iran before you commit

You can check an Iranian doctor yourself, for free, in the official member search run by the Medical Council of Iran (IRIMC). It's in Persian, but you can use it with the doctor's council number. For the hospital, the key check is whether it's on the Ministry of Health's list of hospitals certified to admit international patients (an "IPD" certificate). This guide walks through both checks, and what neither one can tell you.

Why we don't publish a "best surgeon" list

Many sites rank "the best rhinoplasty surgeons in Iran". We don't. We have found no independent, published data that could support a ranking, and surgery counts or star ratings on those lists rarely come with a source. What you can check is whether a doctor is registered and licensed, which hospital they operate in, and how that hospital handles international patients. Then ask the surgeon the questions only they can answer.

Step 1: Check the doctor in the Medical Council member search

The IRIMC member search is at membersearch.irimc.org. It covers physicians, dentists, pharmacists, midwives, laboratory scientists, nutritionists and other members of Iran's medical community. The site says its purpose is to let people find members, see their professional information, and confirm they hold the licences needed to practise, such as a practice licence.

How to use it if you don't read Persian:

1. 01

   Ask for the council number

   Ask the doctor or clinic for the doctor's medical council number (شماره نظام پزشکی). A real practice gives it without hesitation.

2. 02

   Search by number

   Type the digits into the council number field and search. Your browser's translate feature can help with the labels.

3. 03

   Compare what you see

   Check that the name, specialty and city on the profile match what the clinic told you.

4. 04

   Save a copy

   Take a screenshot with the date. Registration can change over time.

Two limits are stated on the page: a search returns at most 100 results, and you can run at most 10 searches in 10 minutes. The site says the professional qualifications on a profile are kept up to date, while contact details are whatever the member last declared.

Step 2: Check the hospital's international patient status

Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) issues certificates to hospitals that admit international patients. The Ministry's list has been republished on Iranian embassy websites. One such page says the International Patient Department (IPD) "manages the medical examination, diagnosis, and treatment for international patients".

What to do:

• Ask the hospital, or your coordinator, whether it holds an IPD certificate and when it was issued.
• Compare the hospital's name with the published list. Names are transliterated, so spellings can differ.
• Know the limits. The list we found was posted on 30 June 2023, so it may be out of date, and we have not found a live official lookup. Treat it as one check, not proof.

The IPD matters for travel too. For treatment, Iran's Medical Visa needs an approval letter from an authorized medical center. See the Iran medical visa guide.

Step 3: Check the pairing and the paperwork

Your plan needs a doctor and a facility, not a doctor alone:

• Confirm where the operation will take place, and that the doctor operates there.
• Ask for the hospital's name in writing, as it appears on its own documents.
• Get the medical part of the price from the doctor or hospital directly, separate from travel and coordination. Our guide to what makes up the price of rhinoplasty explains why that split matters.
• For a hair transplant, also confirm which steps the doctor will do in person. The hair restoration society ISHRS warns about clinics where technicians operate instead. See our hair transplant planning guide.

Questions to ask the surgeon

The NHS and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) suggest asking these before surgery abroad:

• What is your training, and which professional bodies are you a member of?
• How often do you perform this procedure?
• In which hospital will you operate, and do you have privileges there?
• Is the facility accredited, and by whom?
• What happens if there is a complication, before and after I fly home? Who pays?
• Will we share a language for consultations, or will an interpreter be present?
• Where will my follow-up appointments be?

What these checks can't tell you

Registration shows that a doctor is licensed. It doesn't show how good the result will be for you. The US CDC makes the same point about facility accreditation: it "does not guarantee a good outcome". Whether a procedure suits you, and what to expect, are questions for the surgeon in consultation. Our rhinoplasty planning guide lists what a surgeon usually assesses.

Plan for afterwards too. Our guide to aftercare and complications after surgery abroad covers what to arrange before you leave.

How Sahleva verifies providers

When you open a case, we check your doctor and facility before anything else moves forward, record the source and date of each check, and re-check over time. How we verify providers describes the method. For the wider picture of travelling for treatment, see our Iran guide.