The Health Care System of the Semipalatinsk Region of the Steppe Territory: Stages of Formation (60s of the 19th Century — the Beginning of the 20th Century)

Abstract

On the basis of different sources, mainly annual regional statistical surveys, the stages of the formation of the health care system of the Semipalatinsk region of the Steppe Governor General are revealed. At the first stage, the end of the 60s — 80s of the 19th century, the accession of the Steppe Territory to the Russian Empire was completed. The integrating policy of this ethnoregion into the political-legal and socio-economic space of the empire was initiated. In the social sphere, it led to the creation of a health system. The procesas had a number of specific features due to the absence of zemstvos and zemstvo medicine and the predominance of Kazakh nomads in the ethnosocial structure of the region. Therefore, in contrast to the central regions of Russia, the development of the health care system in the Steppe Territory was dealt with by the provincial and regional administrations. The second stage (the end of the 80s 19th century — 1917) is associated with the beginning of the mass migration of peasant migrants from the European part of Russia to the Steppe Territory. This stage is characterized by the expansion of the network of regional and county medical institutions, the improvement of their material and technical base, the expansion of the specialization of practicing doctors, and the solution of the personnel problem.
 Also, at that stage, the system of management of medical institutions was improved and government organizations, for example, the Resettlement Department, were involved in solving problems related to health care services for the p opulation. In general, statistics show that by 1917 the quality of health care services and the percentage of population involvement remained at a low level.