Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 20, 1997

From home, we went to the education, research and welfare rehabilitation center [Asma]. A girl who was treated after cerebral palsy was welcomed and Dr. Karimi, the head of the center, explained. With my help last year, this unit has been equipped and a large number of children with cerebral palsy and speech and movement disorders are under treatment. With the help of the children's parents, they act as a team and have achieved results.

I visited some work facilities and talked with parents and children themselves. I also saw an old man whose larynx was operated on because of larynx cancer, and he had a hole under his throat, and instead of breathing through his nose and mouth, he was breathing through that hole. In the staff gathering, we heard the report of Dr. Marandi, [Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education] and Dr. Jazayeri, [Head of the Welfare Organization]. I also talked about the importance of such human services and gave plaques of appreciation to two of their professors. They also presented a plaque of appreciation. A spinal cord amputee, a painter who was lying on a bed named Jahanbakhsh, from Kerman, gave one of his beautiful paintings as a present.

I went to the office. Akhvi Mohammad, [executive deputy of the president] came to report the work. The headquarters [program support] of market regulation had a meeting with several resolutions and reports. In the evening, in the meeting of the government board, we had many approvals and then we had a detailed discussion about economic plans without relying on the sale of crude oil and also Iran 1400 - Islamic civilization - which was left unfinished.

I was the guest of the leader. We talked about the command of the army, the cabinet, the danger of America, how to treat minorities, the security of the East, the implementation ceremony and important plans of the country and the impact of the opening trips. They do not consider the publicity of the plans to be enough and they still claim to be unaware of the members of the cabinet [Mr. Seyed Mohammad Khatami].