SANITARY AND HYGIENIC CHANGES DURING THE RESTRUCTURING OF HEALTH CARE IN ТERNOPILʼS REGION IN THE PERIOD 1939–1941

Abstract

Purpose: to analyze transformational processes in the medical field during the occupation of Ternopil Oblast by Soviet troops on the eve of the Stalin-Hitler conflict.

Materials and Methods. Within the framework of the study, the funds of the State Archive of the Ternopil region, the then periodical press, Soviet historiography and modern publications were analyzed, which reveal an objective view of the Sovietization of the region in September 1939 – June 1941. Concrete-historical, statistical-analytical, logical-analytical methods of scientific research are used

Results. A detailed analysis of the transformational processes of the social life of a separate territorial (local) unit gives an idea of the methods, forms, means, effectiveness, consequences and perception of the population of the region of all aspects of state policy carried out by the power structures of the specified period. It has been established that with the arrival of Soviet power in Western Ukrainian lands, medical care for the entire population became free. The main directions of transformations in the field of health care in the Ternopil region have been clarified, namely: the establishment of hospitals in premises that belonged to the previous owners during the Polish rule, the relocation of medical, nursing and paramedic personnel from the East, the construction of new hospitals, the creation of the regional department of health care, to which a specialist from the East, necessarily a member of the party, was appointed, the functioning of the pharmaceutical industry was established, the purpose of which was to create the necessary stock of drugs seized from pharmacies, in particular: medicines, dressing materials, surgical instruments, in case of military operations. It was researched that by the end of 1939, 24 hospitals with 1,325 beds were opened in the region, including 5 hospitals with 125 beds in rural areas, new specialized medical institutions appeared: 13 polyclinics, 50 outpatient clinics, 2 dispensaries.

It was established that the local authorities paid due attention to the organization of maternity and childhood care, 16 womenʼs and childrenʼs consultations were created in the cities and 12 in the villages of the region, as well as the low quality and efficiency of the provision of these services and the provision of material and technical means and medical instruments.

Conclusions. These innovations were aimed at bringing all elements of medical care to the population in accordance with the socialist economic system with its planning and administrative regulation. Establishing party control over all spheres of life in the region.