IRGC Chief Orders Mobilization of Forces in Fight against Pandemic
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps ordered his forces to employ all capacities available to help the medical society in the battle with the coronavirus, offer services to the COVID patients and assist the families affected by the pandemic.
In a videoconference with the IRGC provincial commanders on Tuesday, Major General Hossein Salami stressed the need to use the whole potential of the IRGC to provide the Iranian people with services amid the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic and contribute to the efforts to contain the outbreak in the country.
Praising the Basij forces for participation in a door-to-door screening campaign, dubbed ‘Martyr Soleimani’ initiative, the general said the program could decrease the number of the daily coronavirus deaths to below 50 last year.
The commander also warned against the psychological war launched by the enemies with the purpose of fomenting disappointment in the Iranian society, saying the IRGC and Basij forces’ collaboration with the health sector in helping the coronavirus patients would foil such plot.
Major General Salami then ordered the IRGC forces to set up mobile pharmacies in the cities and villages facing a shortage of medicine, so that the people would not have to travel to other regions to purchase medication.
In a televised speech delivered on August 11, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei stressed the need for collective action in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “I have heard that pharmacies and hospitals are lacking in medication or that medicines are hard to find, but that they are available in the black market at a several times higher price. If this is true, this shows the existence of a fundamental problem in the distribution network. This should be seriously confronted and prevented. Medicines should easily be within the people’s reach.”
The Leader also highlighted the role of the military forces in helping the medical staff, noting, “In the first months, when the disease had just appeared, the military forces–whether the Army or the IRGC–seriously entered the arena and accomplished great feats. Basij cooperated very well. Although they are active in the present time as well, they should use their full potential and help the people.”