Материалы Е. Д. Прокофьевой о системе здравоохранения на р. Таз в 1921-1963 гг.

Abstract

The article studies healthcare system of the Northern Selkups in the period of active socialist transformations (1921–63). This topic has not been detailed in the scholarship, hence the scientific significance and novelty of the study. Its relevance is enhanced by its usefulness to the Selkups, who are in search of new forms of ethnic identity, and to officials responsible for the northerners’ health, to whom it transfers historical experience of creating a healthcare system in the Far North. Its objectives include consideration of the chapter “Healthcare” from an unpublished monograph by the Siberian ethnographer E. D. Prokofieva, provisionally titled “Selkups”; it is stored in the archive of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The chapter is based on materials collected by E. D. Prokofieva during her expeditions to the Northern Selkups in 1925–28 and in 1962. The study of E. D. Prokofieva’s manuscript has used comparative historical method. The following conclusions have been drawn: The healthcare system creation in the Northern Selkups area began with establishment of paramedic position for the Taz tundra population; The next step was opening of medical and obstetric stations (in settlements that emerged in the 1930s) and a hospital (in the district center, Krasnoselkupsk); The doctors used medical aviation: sanitary aircraft took emergency and difficult patients to the medical facilities in Salekhard; Medics were sent to the Krasnoselkupsk district after concluding education. Despite difficulties and failures, the health care system of the Krasnoselkupsk district, built in 1921–63, continues to function. It has reached a new qualitative level and significantly improved its indicators in fighting diseases. E. D. Prokofieva’s manuscript contains valuable data; its analysis introduces into scientific use a new source on the history and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia.