RUSSIA IN RECONSTRUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21538, 9 January 1932, Page 4

RUSSIA IN RECONSTRUCTION

THE MEDICAL FIVE-YEAR PLAN Dr L. Haden Guest,' writing in the Lancet, commends- the efforts : that have been taken.in Russia since he visited that country in 1920 to cope with infectious diseases. Concerning the Five-year Plan, lie-says: . v’-; • - . All aspects of life in Russia have their “ five years plan,” and not'industry alone —and the medical five -years’ -plan has had important--results. Rural medicine in Russia has always besn very backward, and I was told: that this was partly due to the concentration'Of medical teaching in the larger cities so -.that those who were students there became detached from country - life and did not wish to leave the environment of the -towns when their university ~ studies were finished. That problem has been tackled :by decentralising the universities in the sense that universities are now provided in towns all over Russia —even in only mediumsized cities. Provincial people are thus encouraged to remain in .provincal areas. And when qualfied the provincial doctor is given privileges as regards bouse accommodation;'" food supply - /'. and " salary. Also every three years a provincial doctor is eligible forj a .period pf f .Btujdy leaSas-iqf four -to six - months’-"- durations - Great stress is laid on recruiting for the medical service from the mass of the population and 85 per cent, of the students attending courses have the-whole of.their education free. Another aspect of the medical five years’ plan has been the insistence of the Commissariat of Health that no new building shall be erected for a factory, workshop, syndicate,' or trust (forms of State organisation for dealing with the .production and distribution of sugar, rice, wheat,etc.) without special, provision of accommodation for a creche for children, a. consulting service for women and children, a dispensary, and a hospital. I visited a factory restaurant or canteen which wasprovided with a special room for those on special diet and a lounge for those needing rest. No building of the character mentioned may be erected unless its plan includes this provision. And when the building is erected the medical departments are transferred to the control of the Commissariat of, Health. Great attention is being paid to industrial and occupational diseases and medical men attached-to factories are engaged .In constant investigation for methods of prevention of disease. The factories and workshops inspected were up to date in their hygienic arrangements, particularly as regards lighting, ventilation, and - the removal of dust from the vicinity of work. ''

Reference has been made to the obligatory provision of creches in connection with factories and other buildings used for industrial purposes and employing large numbers of people. This provision is made in factories—-as on farms—because women work equally with men. There' is so much demand for labour at the present time in Russia that unemployment is unknown, and without the work of‘ women the five years’ plan in industry could not be realised. But the whole tendency of life in the Soviet_ Union is to regard the women as economically selfsupporting, so that provision of creches for children in essential. And practically all observers agree that the provision made for children is; as good as'it can be under the circumstances. _ If there is a shortage of milk the children have first call on the supply which exists, and so with other foods. Generally speaking even prejudiced observers concede that the “ Bolshevists do look after the children,”

Judging from what I myself saw.in mills, factories, and workshops in the U.S.S.R, there are few if any sexual divisions of work. In the large-agricultural machinery ’ works at Selmashstroy at Rostov-on-Don, where 18,000 people work in great galleries of workshops extending over 300 acres, about one-third of the workers were women. Many were young girls. And girls and men' alike, were, handling heavy machine tools. Many of the women were doing work of a heavy character which is rigidly confined to men in this country.