ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES IN THE KALININGRAD HEALTHCARE SYSTEM DURING “REAL SOCIALISM”

Abstract

The article identifies and examines a number of trends in the development of healthcare system in the Kaliningrad region in the second half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1980s in comparison with the national tendencies. The processes of this time, unlike the years of early development of Kaliningrad healthcare, are poorly studied. The main sources are the documents of the Health Department of the Kaliningrad region, Oblispolkom (Regional Executive Committee) and the Bureau of Medical Statistics from the respective funds of the State Archive of the Kaliningrad Oblast. Further development of the health infrastructure, the reduction of infant and maternal mortality, the success in developing the ambulance system, a significant increase in the number of doctors and paramedics, and the expansion of access to basic healthcare for citizens are the features of the period under review. However, not all staff problems had been solved. The weak point of the regional healthcare was oncological and dental care, the need for which was constantly increasing. There were difficulties with implementing construction plans for new objects of public health services, some of which had turned into real long-term projects. The lack of financing made it impossible to solve a number of problems related to the obsolescence of equipment and medical technology. Despite successes in the control of infectious diseases, there was a high incidence of dysentery and other intestinal infections in the region. The 1970s saw further development of the system of sanitary education, which reached a large proportion of the population of the region. However, the sources do not allow to assess the efficiency of this measure. Processes that were taking place in Kaliningrad regional healthcare system were typical for the country as a whole, showing slow increase in the manifestations of a systemic crisis. The peculiarities of the region, which mitigated this tendency, included high indicators of provision of medical workers in the region, a closer connection between rural and urban healthcare and a younger average age of the population.