Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has promised healthcare for all Iranians in the next four years in a move reminiscent of Barack Obama's patient protection and affordable care act, dubbed Obamacare.
In an interview broadcast live on national television on Wednesday, Rouhani said he wanted all Iranians to be protected under a nationwide health insurance programme. He said at least five million citizens who are the most vulnerable will be the first people to benefit from the initiative.

Rouhani's official English-language Twitter account was the first to make a link between the Iranian president's plan and that initiated by his US counterpart. The government "will extend medical insurance to all Iranians. First step will be to cover 5mn uninsured Iranians by the social safety net #RouhaniCare," read the president's tweet.

"Our people face a number of difficulties in their health protection and when they enter a state-run hospital they usually have to obtain their medicine, tests and medical equipment from other places," Rouhani said in the interview. "We have to make sure our hospitals can give people all the services they need so that they are not left confused."

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