Tehran, February 3, The Iran Project � The world recognizes Iranian traditional medicine as an ancient medicine, the deputy of Iran's health minister says.

Mahmoud khodadoust, the Deputy of Health Minister for Traditional Medicine made the remarks on Wednesday during his speech in the first National Congress on Pervasive Medicine in Cancer organized at Imam Khomeini Hospital, in Tehran. He noted the thousands years of history behind Iranian traditional medicine, saying that the world recognizes Iranian traditional medicine.

The deputy minister referred to the existence of nearly 8000 species of plants in Iran around 1400-1800 of which are used as medicine, adding that some drugs to treat cancer have herbal foundations.

"There are some evidence and international documents proving that the Greek medicine took root in Iranian medicine," the deputy of minister stated, highlighting the increasing global approach toward using the traditional medicines.

Elsewhere in his speech, he demanded enforcing proper regulations for exploration and supervision of using the herbal medicines for relevant treatments in the country.

Earlier, Khodadoust had announced that Iranian traditional medicine is capable of being globalized as it has been historically used by people all over the world.