ABSTRACT
Mazandaran province is located in northern Iran on the coast of the Caspian Sea. The Rural Family Medicine Programme began in the rural areas of Mazandaran province in 2005, serving a population of 1.5 million people living in villages and in cities of under 20,000 people in the province. The Urban Family Physicians Programme in Mazandaran province began in the year 2012, with governmental approval provided by the Cabinet of Ministers on April 14, 2012. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, health is considered a right, which has been emphasized in several principles in the constitution. All the health team members are employees of the public sector and receive their salary from the District Health Centre (DHC) by a mixed payment method. Private sector physicians interested in working as urban family physicians apply to the DHC. In the application form, the physician declares readiness to start working as a family physician for a specific population.
