BORN BY REVOLUTION: THE FORMATION OF THE SOVIET HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AMONG KALMYK NOMADS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the origin and development of the healthcare system in Kalmykia during the revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. For the first time, the process of formation of the healthcare sector in the region in the difficult historical conditions of this chronological period is considered. The paper examines the state of health authorities on the territory of Kalmykia during the period of hostilities, the provision of personnel, the material and everyday problems of Kalmyk health care, and the incidence of the population. The article also discusses the impact of political and economic processes on the formation of the healthcare system in Kalmykia. The study used the problem-chronological principle, the method of historicism, analysis and synthesis, etc. A quantitative (statistical) method was also used, which made it possible to follow the dynamics of changes in the material base and staffing of health care institutions in the region. The main sources were archival documents of the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia. The emergence of a state health care system among Kalmyk nomads is inextricably linked with the administrative and political transformations that took place on the territory of the Kalmyk steppe, which at that time was part of the Astrakhan province. Only with the formation of an autonomous region did the Kalmyk health department become an independent body of executive power. The development of the health care system in Kalmykia at the initial stage of its formation was greatly influenced by the hostilities taking place in the region, as well as their consequences - epidemics and famine.