Development of healthcare in the BSSR in the 1920s and 1930s according to the main indicators of medical care for the population

Objective. To characterize the development of healthcare in the BSSR in the 1920s-1930s based on the analysis of the main indicators of medical care for the population.

Materials and methods. The basis of the study was the analysis of materials of general and specialized medical statistics of the BSSR, current records management of healthcare authorities from archival collections using general scientific and special historical methods of analysis, as well as elements of the index method of mathematical analysis, within the use of which the absolute figures were converted into indicators per 10 thousand people.

Results. One of the main tasks of the interwar healthcare of the BSSR was to overcome the traditional lag in medical development of Belarusian lands in providing the population with hospital services and medical personnel. However, the intensive growth of medical network, due to the warfare of the Polish-Soviet war of 1919–1921 caused the possibility of military resources using to increase civilian healthcare opportunities, was replaced in the early 1920s by a period of significant reduction in the medical network has begun, caused by the need to save money in the context of the implementation of the New Economic Policy. Only with the beginning of a planned economy and the necessity of medical support for growing industry and agriculture as part of the policy of industrialization and collectivization the main indicators of medical care for the population began to increase rapidly, reaching a peak by the end of the studied period. Increased share from local and national budget allocations, as well as the expansion of the higher medical education system, which allowed in a short time to increase the number of graduated doctors to saturate the growing medical network.

Conclusion. The development of healthcare in the BSSR in the 1920s and 1930s is an example of a striking contrast in approaches and the practical results of the healthcare development. When the 1920s were a period of overcoming the consequences of massive cuts in medicine during the New Economic Policy period, accompanied by a decrease in the number of medical institutions and an extremely small increase in the number of doctors, in the 1930s the beginning of a planned economy became the main trigger for the accelerated growth of the main indicators of medical care to the population. As a result, by the end of the 1930s the BSSR not only restored, but also improved the pre-revolutionary indicators of healthcare development by more than 2 times, which is proof of the high efficiency of the Soviet healthcare system.

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