Ministry of Health (Soviet Union)

Ministry of Health of the USSR
Agency overview
Министерство здравоохранения СССР
All ministry seals of the Soviet Union used the Soviet coat of arms
Formed	16 July 1923
Preceding agency	General Directorate of Public Health of the Russian Empire (1917)
Dissolved	15 November 1991
Superseding agency	Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (1992)
Jurisdiction	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Headquarters	Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union

The Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (Министерство здравоохранения СССР), formed on 15 March 1946, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was formerly (until 1946) known as the People's Commissariat for Health (Народный комиссариат здравоохранения). The Ministry, at the all-Union level, was established on 6 July 1923, after the signing of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, and was, in turn, based upon the People's Commissariat for Health of the RSFSR formed in 1917. The Ministry was led by the Minister of Health, prior to 1946 a Commissar, who was nominated by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and confirmed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and was a member of the Council of Ministers.

Duties and responsibilities

The main duties of the ministry were to develop and to prepare these for legislation and to maintain a decent level of health organisation in the USSR. The ministry missariat monitored and supervised the application of standards and measures to improve Soviet health care. According to the July 1936 decree establishing the People's Commissariat for Health, the commissariat had control over all financial assets related or linked to health care. As such, the ministry controlled all financial functions regarding health. It coordinated medical personnel all over the country, but also local council deputies.^[1] MOH was obliged to take active measures against deficiencies in the health care system, and to further develop and implement measures to improve it.^[2]

The MOH, with the help of other ministries and Soviet institutions, was responsible for the construction of new medical institutions around the country. Maintenance of hospital and other medical institutions were carried out by the MOH and the State Committee for Construction.^[2] According to the Regulations on the Ministry of Health of the USSR, MOH was responsible for maintenance and the construction of public health care services, and organising and conducting forensic medical and forensic psychiatric examination and establishing public pharmaceutical services. It was also assigned to develop and publish guidelines on organising and improving curative and preventive care, maternal and child health and to oversee the formulation of therapeutic and preventive work in health care.^[3]

The competence of the MOH within the jurisdiction of the USSR was periodically reviewed by the Council of Ministers.^[3]

Organisation

The Ministry of Health was an all-union ministry, which meant that it controlled the fifteen ministries of health of the union republics.^[4] The union health ministries, in turn, were in charge of the autonomous oblasts and district health departments. The union ministries, along with the oblasts and the district health departments, were in control of the public hospitals and medicine in their area.^[5]

History

A July 1936 decree by the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars established the People's Commissariat for Health. Grigory Kaminsky, having served as People's Commissar for Health of the RSFSR, became the first commissar of the all-union commissariat for health. Kaminsky was arrested in 1938 after his speech in 1937 which denounced the ongoing stalinist repression in the country (Great Purge). In a very short period of time since the formation of the commissariat, the diseases and viruses which had for a long time been a major problem had been eliminated.^[1] In 1946, the People's Commissariat for Health was renamed Ministry of Health.^[6]

Commissars and ministers

The following persons headed the Commissariat/Ministry as commissars (narkoms), ministers, and deputy ministers of the Soviet time:

Name	Took office	Left office	Duration
People's Commissar for Health of the USSR
Kaminsky, GrigoryGrigory Kaminsky	000000001936-07-20-000020 July 1936	000000001937-06-26-000026 June 1937	7007294624000000000♠341 days
Boldyrev, MikhailMikhail Boldyrev	000000001937-08-02-00002 August 1937	000000001938-07-16-000016 July 1938	7007300672000000000♠348 days
Miterev, GeorgeGeorge Miterev	000000001939-09-08-00008 September 1939	000000001946-03-15-000015 March 1946	7008205588800000000♠6 years, 188 days
Minister of Health of the USSR
Miterev, GeorgeGeorge Miterev	000000001946-03-19-000019 March 1946	000000001947-02-17-000017 February 1947	7007289440000000000♠335 days
Smirnov, YefimYefim Smirnov	000000001947-02-17-000017 February 1947	000000001952-12-09-00009 December 1952	7008183362400000000♠5 years, 296 days
Tretyakov, AndreyAndrey Tretyakov	000000001953-01-27-000027 January 1953	000000001954-03-01-00001 March 1954	7007344088000000000♠1 year, 33 days
Kovrigina, MariaMaria Kovrigina	000000001954-03-01-00001 March 1954	000000001959-01-12-000012 January 1959	7008153619200000000♠4 years, 317 days
Kurashov, SergeiSergei Kurashov	000000001959-01-12-000012 January 1959	000000001965-08-27-000027 August 1965	7008208958400000000♠6 years, 227 days
Petrovsky, BorisBoris Petrovsky	000000001965-09-08-00008 September 1965	000000001980-12-12-000012 December 1980	7008481572000000000♠15 years, 95 days
Burenkov, SergeiSergei Burenkov	000000001980-12-12-000012 December 1980	000000001986-12-26-000026 December 1986	7008190555200000000♠6 years, 14 days
Chazov, YevgeniyYevgeniy Chazov	000000001987-02-17-000017 February 1987	000000001990-03-29-000029 March 1990	7007981288000000000♠3 years, 40 days
Denisov, IgorIgor Denisov	000000001990-04-18-000018 April 1990	000000001991-11-26-000026 November 1991	7007507384000000000♠1 year, 222 days

References

1 2 Sorokina, Tatyana. История медицины [History of Medicine] (in Russian). bibliotekar.ru. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
1 2 Government of the USSR. О МЕРАХ ПО ДАЛЬНЕЙШЕМУ УЛУЧШЕНИЮ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ И РАЗВИТИЮ МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ НАУКИ В СТРАНЕ [On measures to further enhance the health and development of medical science in the country]. Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (in Russian). Retrieved 25 October 2010.
1 2 Government of the USSR. К разработке основ законодательства о здравоохранении [To develop a legal framework on public health] (in Russian). Business Law Institute of The State University of Management. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
↑ Feldbrugge, Ferdinand J. (1993). Russian Law: The End of the Soviet System and the Role of Law. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 160. ISBN 0-7923-2359-9.
↑ Filtzer, Donald A. (2002). Soviet workers and late Stalinism: labour and the restoration of the Stalinist system after World War II. Cambridge University Press. p. 109. ISBN 0-521-81503-7.
↑ Здравоохранение: Значение слова "Здравоохранение" [Health: Meaning of the word "health"]. Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (in Russian). Retrieved 25 October 2010.

External links

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