Ivan Vasilyevich Protasov — a guide of the sanitary direction of health care in Perm province (to the 255th anniversary)

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the 255th anniversary of the birth of Protasov Ivan Vasilyevich — a zemstvo doctor, public figure, professor. The life of I. V. Protasov, a remarkable doctor of the late 18th century, is closely connected with the Urals, where, in addition to the diverse practical work of a county doctor, he was also engaged in scientific research. Here, his practical and scientific activities were most clearly manifested, in which he continued to develop the materialistic traditions in science, laid down by M. V. Lomonosov and such prominent representatives of medical science as S. G. Zybelin, D. S. Samoilovich, N. M. Maksimovich — Ambodik and others. In 1788, after completing his studies at the St. Petersburg land hospital, he served as an assistant doctor in the fleet, then, after passing the exam, as a regimental doctor in a dragoon regiment. Already at that time, while still a young doctor, Protasov understood that the main duty of a doctor is to prevent diseases, and that is why he deeply studies the causes of diseases and seeks to develop preventive measures to prevent the most common diseases among soldiers. From the first steps of his medical activity, I. V. Protasov sought to generalize his practical experience. The whole subsequent life of Ivan Vasilyevich Protasov was associated with medical activities in the Perm province, where he showed himself as an active public figure — he represented the governing body of the provincial health care. True to his preventive principles, he not only treats the population, but also studies in depth the conditions of his life, the incidence of the population and the causes of this incidence. Under the leadership of I. V. Protasov, scientific works on disease prevention, sanitary affairs and the history of medicine were published.