IFP Exclusive

Surgeon-cum-Referee Skips Match to Help Quake Victims

A top Iranian football referee, who is also an orthopedic surgeon, has missed a match he was supposed to judge to help victims of the recent earthquake.

Orthopedist Bijan Heidari reminds us, more than anything, of the 85th derby in Tehran. Last Wednesday, he should have been in the southern Iranian city of Abadan to judge a match. However, he made arrangements with the Iranian Football Federation and the Panel of Referees to stay in hospital and help quake victims instead.

Heidari works at a hospital in the city of Hamadan. He also teaches at university. At the same time, he is one of the elite football referees in Asia.

In an interview with the Persian-language Tasnim News Agency, he said although he was supposed to be the referee for a match in Abadan, he chose to stay in hospital and treat those injured in the devastating earthquake which rocked western Iran days ago.

He says he has performed several operations on the injured victims along with her colleagues. He draws a comparison between judging a match and saving patients’ lives. He says a wrong judgment in a match might upset 30 to 40 million people and fans of different teams. Likewise, he notes, if a doctor makes a mistake, it may risk the patient’s life.

Heidari says he tries to be present on the pitch and in the operating room with full physical and mental readiness.

IFP Editorial Staff

The IFP Editorial Staff is composed of dozens of skilled journalists, news-writers, and analysts whose works are edited and published by experienced editors specialized in Iran News. The editor of each IFP Service is responsible for the report published by the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website, and can be contacted through the ways mentioned in the "IFP Editorial Staff" section.

Recent Posts

“Iran Hamdel” campaign sends aid to Gaza amid war

Aid items donated by millions of Iranians within a national campaign, have reached the beseiged…

2 hours ago

Iranian deputy FM: Cooperation with Saudis serves as a successful model for fostering peace and security

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi has said Iran and Saudi Arabia are committed…

2 hours ago

Official: Iran responds to IAEA resolution with increased nuclear enrichment capacity

Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), says the organization…

4 hours ago

Pictures: Demonstrators in Tehran support people of Gaza, Lebanon

Hundreds of people gathered in Tehran on Friday morning in front of the United Nations…

4 hours ago

Int’l lawyer: US plans to sanction countries cooperating with ICC on Netanyahu arrest

An international law expert and analyst has revealed the U.S. plans to impose punitive measures…

7 hours ago

Minister of science: 25% of Iranian university professors emigrated due to economic challenges

Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, Hossein Simayee Saraf, addressed on Thursday academic migration…

7 hours ago