RUSSIAN STAMINA

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 194, 18 August 1942, Page 2

RUSSIAN STAMINA

THE HEALTH FRONT

WHAT NAZIS CAN'T BREAK

LONDON

Pre-war controversies about the achievements of the Soviet Union used to cover a very wide field, but I never heard any adverse opinion about the development of health services in Russia, says Paul Winterton in a dispatch to the News Chronicle from Kuibishev. Before the war it was universally recognised that Soviet doctors knew as much about medicine as anyone in the world, and all objective observers agreed that the medical and hospital services of the Soviet Union were excellent. Medical Unit System I h^ve had an opportunity to study the effects of war on the health services in the Kuibishev region an administration area normally inhabited by more than 3,000,000 people but now sheltering in addition large numbers of evacuees from the west. There are 164 civil hospitals in the region, plus 32 maternity hospitals Every populated point, however small, has its own medical point £ are 570 altogether—manned for the most part by a young doctor m training, a sister and a nurse, l neir job is to give preliminary advice and treatment and deal with emergency cases in places often remote from the main centres of habitation. Most of their work, of course is concerned with confinements. Each point has one or two beds for expectant mothers, though a doctor midwife often attend country women in their homes still. Thei e are 8900 beds in children's r^ C ? e f oP eratin S all the year round for toddlers up to three years- and similar organisations are attached to the education system for children from three to school age. During the period of field work, temporary creches are set up, and this year when the harvest is the most important ever planned in this riic..+£i~+

,r" m in is district they will have 72,000 creche beds ir this region. Practically all women work ir Russia, even in peace time, and it is K na , f ,? r 8u P er cent of the childrer to be left in creches in the daytime rhis percentage has risen now tc practically 100 in the villages. Evacuation Problems •tJii- ywu arc ! to appreciate the steadiness and extent of that improvement I must inflict some igures on you. Take doctors, for instance. In 1913 here were 0.9 doctors per 10,000 of ■he population; in 1929, 3 2 t>er 0,000 of the population, there ue now 5.5 per 10,000. In 1913 there were two sets of v-ray equipment; in 1919, 11; now here are 72. ' The number of out-patient depart1942 rlSen fr ° m 183 in 1929 to I talked to-day with Kuzma Pavle- , . C t Y VaS ?, lll ? v ' head of the regional lealth administration, about the large-scale evacuation on lealth in the locality. "The evacuees," he told me, "cerainly confronted us with special •roblems. Many of the children were a to start with as a result of hard xperiences, especially from traveling long distances in summer heat a overcrowded conditions. But they lidn t suffer any irreparable harm. There were cases of typhus this * intei brought from occupied zones ■lit at no time has there been anyhing approaching an epidemic here nanks to the precautions taken. All vacuated people were given de-lous-ng treatment on arrival, and medical ontrol detachments met the trains nspected all passengers and removed ion cases for further examinaMedical Attention Free

He showed me a bottle of Vitamin locally from haws. We ve ample quantities of this," ne said and in winter we also gave the children cod liver oil. Special arrangements were made, too to provide as many as possible town children with liquid milk and milk products at special kitchens." Medical attention here is entirelv free, a iact which has always to be rS into account when considering the Russian's standard of living. All doctors are attached to hospitals or clinics, and not many now have a private practice as well. t ctor w, arns anything from 500 to 1500 roubles a month, which isn't easily translatable into English good wage b y Russian standards. The matron of a hospital gets 450 to 500 roubles a month and keep.

The working day of a doctor at a clinic is five and a half hours, and at hospitals six hours, though manv are doing overtime, for which thev are paid. J

V u ilitj Hitler Will Never Destroy You have only to walk through the streets and study the faces and bearing of folk to realise this disti ict, at least, is well fed and in all fundamental respects well cared for. Especially striking is the bonny children appearance of the small

o. J l ?® r,E, e< ?P le are of fine, robust stock Their teeth in particular are tne best I have seen anywhere a sure indication of a state of general health Certainly there is no doubt about their vitality—when abortion was made illegal in 1936 the birthrate increased sharply two and a naif times, and has since steadilv risen to a new high level. What does all this mean! In mv view it means the Russians are winJ? ei - r ba^} e on the health front, ine Nazis will no more succeed in undermming their strong bodies if the harvest is good than they will succeed in breaking their spirits There is a virility about the Russians,. men, women and children which Hitler will never destroy' Instead, he will break himself against their sound minds and their sound 1 3m more cerlain