Prominent physician and manager of health care in the Crimea (on the 120th anniversary of the death of N.N. Betling)

Abstract

The year 2022 marks the 120th anniversary of the death of Nikolai Nikolaevich Betling, one of the most prominent representatives of pre-revolutionary medicine in the Taurida Gubernia. For more than thirty years he was the head of the Taurida Gubernatorial Zemstvo Hospital, which he took over in a very difficult and crucial period — soon after it was transferred from the Prikaz Public Charity to the Taurida Gubernatorial Zemstvo. It was his efforts that laid the foundation for the development of not only the practical medicine of the region, but also the surgical research center of the Gubernia. For his outstanding contribution to medicine, Betling was awarded not only several orders, but also the title of honorary nobility, and after his death a street in Simferopol was named in his honour. However, over a century later, Betling’s legacy has been forgotten. Today Betling’s name is known only to some local historians and is practically not mentioned in scientific publications. The authors of the article analyzed pre-revolutionary literature sources and searched among archival documents, plans and photographs. Today, in the main building of the former hospital is a Department of Human Anatomy of Institute “Medical Academy named after S.I. Georgievsky”, where medical students of junior courses are trained. Resurrecting the memory of such figures of Medicine as Betling is a fertile ground for creating a sense of pride in the national history of Medicine among aspiring physicians.