State of Medical Institutions and Public Health Problems during Late Stalinism (on the Materials of the Aktobe Region of the Kazakh SSR

Abstract

The relevance of the topic of the research is conditioned by the necessity to reflect in the historical science the peculiarities of development of the Soviet public health care in the conditions of the postwar reconstruction. The func-tioning of medical institutions in the postwar period took place in difficult conditions not only in the liberated territory, but also in the rear regions, as the consequences of the Great Patriotic War for the country and all the peoples of the former Soviet Union were enormous. Currently, Russian and Kazakh historiography lacks comprehensive studies on this issue, and the available works are mostly fragmentary in nature. The purpose of the research is to study the problems of medical and sanitary-preventive institutions, the state of health of the population of the Aktobe region of the Kazakh SSR in the post-war years. Objectives: on the basis of the documents of the State Archive of Aktobe region to analyze problems such as the shortage of medical personnel in the region, poor material - technical support and poor sanitary condition of medical institutions, to assess the extent of the spread of various infectious diseases, especially among the rural population. Methodology. The source base of the research includes published materials and archive documents. In the work were used scientific methods, typical for historical research: historical-genetic, comparative-historical. Results. The study showed that in general the state of medical institutions during the late Stalinism period in the territory of Aktobe region was unsatisfactory. The study of published sources and archival documents allowed us to reveal the real picture of the need and scarcity in the hospital institutions in the postwar years, as well as to assess the government attempts to reform the system of outpatient and polyclinic institutions. Conclusion. Deterioration of public health, which resulted in a decrease in the birth rate and increased mortality, arose as a result of the Great Patriotic War. Low provision of equipment, medical instruments contributed to the decline in the quality of medical care. The results of the study can serve as a basis for further study of the problem of development and organization of health care in the Kazakh SSR in the postwar period.