Governor Nuri Okutan showed reaction when he saw the photographs of a child who was facing health problems due to malnutrition, during the conference.

"It is my fault if the public is not provided with good health care, and if children are dying because of malnutrition."

He also called on the public to trust the birth control methods, and not to expect any good out of the sheik and beldam drugs.

The burden on the hospitals is heavy

Okutan stated that the people should be directed to health centers before hospitals, in order to improve the health conditions:

* Because the health centers are not being used, the burden on the hospitals is getting heavier and heavier.

* The people should be prevented from trusting the sheik and beldam drugs instead of consulting a doctor.

* We have to abandon the mentality: "Allah sent the child, he will also send his necessities." Don't listen to those who say that the "state is drying up our race" with vaccines.

* People attend birth control training before they get married even in Iran. The ones, who do not have a document stating that they have attended the training, cannot get married. Being castrated is getting very common among men in Iran. The world's largest condom factory is in Iran.

* It is my fault if people are not provided with good health care or if children are dying because of malnutrition. But from now on, I will be more willing and organized. I will punish negligence. I will reward hard work.

Effort for preventing deaths

Dr. Halise Yildiran, the person responsible for Mother-Baby Health from the Province's Health Directorate, called attention on deaths during her speech.

Yildiran stated that by the Health Ministry's "Project to Prevent Mother and Child Deaths," they were intending to decrease the number of child deaths to 40 in a thousand from 49 in a thousand: "We will prevent the death of 133 babies and 7 mothers every day." (BB/FA/EA/NM)