Education and formation of the occupational pathology service in the Nizhny Novgorod Region

Abstract

The article describes the main stages of the emergence, formation and development of the occupational pathology service in one of the largest industrial regions of Russia and the USSR - the Nizhny Novgorod region. The origin of the service was due to the high industrial potential of the region and the plans of the USSR government to significantly increase it. The materials of the article indicate that the fundamental role in the origin and subsequent development of the occupational pathology service of the Nizhny Novgorod Province belongs to the Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Sofia Israilevna Skundina, who in 1925 headed the newly created professional section of the sanitary department of the Gubzdrav. Thanks to her work and organizational skills, a polyclinic for the study of occupational diseases began functioning in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, in Sormov in 1926. In 1927 the Nizhny Novgorod Vocational Dispensary was organized, which in 1929 was transformed into the Regional Institute for the Study and Control of Occupational Diseases. In 1929-1932 Sofya Izrailevna actively participated in the creation and organization of a network of medical posts at industrial enterprises of the province. In 1931 The Nizhny Novgorod Medical Institute has organized the Departments of Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Diseases (headed by one of the leading occupational pathologists of the country - Professor I.N. Kavalerov) and the Department of Social Hygiene and Health Organization (founded by S.I. Skundina) and started training of occupational pathologists.