[Health care of the students at the Elisabeth University in Pécs between 1924 and 1950].

Abstract

In this study, we present the arrangements of the Erzsébet University, seated in Pécs since 1923, on student health protection via analyzing the archive resources. Due to the scattered resources, we cannot give an account on the preceding Pozsony (1914-20) or Budapest (1920-23) era. In this period, the resources mention only the boarding-students' medical attendance by an internist teaching assistant. After the University moved to Pécs, Dr. János Angyán was the one, who considered the (health protection) issue significant. In his proposition, he suggested the University should set up a hospital association and the pre-examination of the boarding-students. The actual examination of the students was introduced along with the compulsory physical education. While it was compulsory for male students, female students could participate voluntarily since the fall of 1927. From 1923, the cost of medical arrangements of the students of the fourth faculty, of the Evangelical Theological Faculty, was covered by a separate fund financed by university students. In the early 1930s, it was Dr. János Angyán again who made a proposition that the examinations should be institutionalized, which in the new settings took place in the school year of 1936-37. In three consecutive years all the students were subject to examinations. The participation rate differed among the faculties. It was high among the freshmen of the Medical Faculty and of the Humanities, however, it was 22 percent of the Faculty of Law at the beginning and even later, in the fall of 1948 it was only 48 percent. Besides the management of the University, other universities and non-governmental organizations of the country stood up to fight against contagions of the era, such as the Tuberculosis and venereal diseases. These initiatives were carefully considered by the management of the university, which took proper action in each and every case. In the 1940s the examinations continued, which were suspended during the war. The management planned to restart the examinations in 1947, however, no data survived from this period.