Development of Curative and Preventive Healthcare Network in Penza Region during Postwar Period (1945–1953)
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-9-452-475
Abstract
This article examines the dynamics and specific characteristics of the development of the healthcare institutional network in the Penza Region during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It introduces into scholarly discourse a body of previously unpublished archival materials. The study outlines the general directions of the restructuring of the healthcare system’s administrative and organizational framework. We analyze quantitative trends in the region’s hospital, outpatient, and inpatient care infrastructure. Particular emphasis is placed on shifts in the accessibility of inpatient medical care for different population groups, accounting for demographic fluctuations. A central focus of the inquiry is the modernization of the curative-preventive network’s structure, specifically its increasing specialization. The authors establish that the organizational transformation of the sector and the expansion of the healthcare institutional network, accompanied by a significant increase in budgetary expenditures, yielded positive outcomes for public health. However, it is demonstrated that the pace of development of the Penza Region’s medical facilities lagged considerably behind the average rates for the Russian Republic. Consequently, access to qualified medical care remained a significant challenge for a substantial portion of the population, particularly in rural areas.
About the Authors
I. N. InozemtsevRussian Federation
Ivan N. Inozemtsev - PhD in History, Associate Professor, Department “History of Russia and Methods of teaching History”.
Penza
O. A. Sukhova
Russian Federation
Olga A. Sukhova - Doctor of History, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of History and Philology.
Penza
References
1. GAPO — The State Archive of the Penza region. F. R-568 (Authorized Representative of the State Planning Committee under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR for the Penza region). (In Russ.).
2. GARF — The State Archive of the Russian Federation. F. R-8009 (Ministry of Health of the USSR). Op. 6. D. 167, 1336. (In Russ.).
3. On approval of the Regulations on the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR and its local bodies: Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated 04/29/1948. (1958). In: Chronological Collection of Laws, decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Council and resolutions of the Government of the RSFSR, 4. Moscow: Gosyurizdat Publ. 53—79. (In Russ.).
4. On streamlining the network and establishing a single nomenclature of healthcare institutions: Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR dated 31.10.1949 N 5036. Available at: https://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?req=doc&base=ESU&n=6554#HFh29pUcP0CjxxDM1 (accessed 27.05.2025). (In Russ.).
5. On the transformation of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR into the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Councils of People’s Commissars of the Union and Autonomous Republics into the Councils of Ministers of the Union and Autonomous Republics: Law of 15.03.1946. (1975). In: Collection of Laws of the USSR and decrees of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. 1938—1975: in 4 volumes, 1. Moscow: Izvestiya Soviets of Workers of the USSR. 186—187. (In Russ.).
6. The Law on the five-year plan for the restoration and development of the national economy of the USSR for 1946—1950. (1946). Moscow: OGIZ, State Publishing House of Political Literature. 95 p. (In Russ.).
7. The national economy of the USSR in 1960 Statistical yearbook. (1961). Moscow: Gosstatisdat TsSU of the USSR. 943 p. (In Russ.).
8. The new structure of the Ministry of Health of the USSR. (1947). Soviet Healthcare, 8: 3—5. (In Russ.).
9. Agievets, S. V. (2002). Theoretical problems of legal regulation of medical care: a monograph. Grodno: GrSU. 168 p. ISBN 985-417-404-2. (In Russ.).
10. Albitsky, V. Y., Sher, S. A. (2023). Reformation of children’s healthcare in the Soviet Union after the Great Patriotic War. Issues of modern pediatrics, 22 (6): 492—497. DOI: 10.15690/vsp.v22i6.2655. (In Russ.).
11. Aralovets, N. A. (2009). Urban family in Russia, 1927—1959: monograph. Tula: Grif and K. 303 p. ISBN 978-5-8125-1235-4. (In Russ.).
12. Ashkinazi, I. G. (1948). Studying the medical and sanitary consequences of war and measures to eliminate them (results of the 4th conference). Hygiene and sanitation, 4: 49—53. (In Russ.).
13. Baroyan, O. V. (1968). The results of the half-century struggle against infections in the USSR and some topical issues of modern epidemiology: monographs. Moscow: Medicine. 303 p. (In Russ.).
14. Barton, K. (2007). Healthcare in the period of late Stalinism and the spirit of the post-war welfare state, 1945—1953. Journal of Social Policy, 5 (4): 541—558. (In Russ.).
15. Borovikova, Z. V. (2018). The state of healthcare in the Kemerovo region in the second half of the 1940s — 1950s. Bulletin of Kemerovo State University, 3: 12—19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21603/2078-8975-2018-3-12-19. (In Russ.).
16. Byakina, V. P. (1999). Restoration and development of healthcare in the North-West of the USSR in the conditions of the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period of 1945—1950. PhD Diss. St. Petersburg. 337 p. (In Russ.).
17. Davydova, T. V. (2015). The reform of Soviet healthcare in the post-war years: a historical analysis. Bulletin of Tambov University. Series: Humanities, 8 (148): 164—170. (In Russ.).
18. Dudkina, M. P. (2008). Development of healthcare in the cities of Western Siberia (1946— 1960). PhD Diss. Novosibirsk. 254 p. (In Russ.).
19. Egorova, D. V. (2011). Legal policy in the field of healthcare and legal protection of public health in the Soviet state (1917—1991). PhD Diss. Saratov. 181 p. (In Russ.).
20. Ellman, M. (2000). The 1947 Soviet famine and the entitlement approach to famines. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 24: 603—630.
21. Eregina, N. T. (2010). Training of medical personnel in higher education in Russia in 1917 — early 1950s. PhD Diss. St. Petersburg. 651 p. (In Russ.).
22. Field, M. G. (1967). Soviet socialized medicine: an introduction. New-York: Free Press. 231 p.
23. Filzer, D. (2018). The dangers of urban life in the USSR during the Late Stalinism: health, hygiene and living conditions, 1943—1953: a monograph. Moscow: Rosspen. 443 p. ISBN 978-5-8243-2298-9. (In Russ.).
24. Forty years of Soviet healthcare: on the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. 1917—1957: collection of articles. (1957). Moscow: Medgiz Publ. 662 p. (In Russ.).
25. Godin, V. S. (1996). The path to a century and a half: Pages of the history of the Penza Regional Hospital named after N. N. Burdenko: a monograph. Penza: Regional Hospital. 352 p. (In Russ.).
26. Goldman, V. Z. (2023). The fortress is dark and harsh: The Soviet rear during the Second World War: a monograph. Moscow: New Literary Review. 706 p. ISBN 978-5-4448-1999-9. (In Russ.).
27. Gushchin, A. A. (2018). Housing issue in the 1950s — early 1980s (based on the materials of the Penza region). Klio, 2 (134): 79—85. (In Russ.).
28. Hoffmann, D. L. (2003). Stalinist Values: The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity, 1917— 1941. Ithaca; London: Cornell Univ. Press. 247 p. ISBN 0801440890.
29. Inozemtsev, I. N. (2023). Healthcare and medical and sanitary aspects of the daily life of the population of the Penza region during the Great Patriotic War. PhD Diss. Penza. 316 p. (In Russ.).
30. Khisamutdinova, R. R., Khomyakova, N. V. (2023). Healthcare in the Urals in the second half of the 40s — early 50s of the XX century: problems of material and personnel support. Samara Scientific Bulletin, 12 (2): 180—187. DOI: 10.55355/snv2023122209. (In Russ.).
31. Kulnev, S. V. (1968). The development of surgery in the Penza region: a monograph. Saratov-Penza: Privolzhsky Book Publishing House. 234 p. (In Russ.).
32. Lavrov, A. N., Orlov, Yu. A., Shaldybin, G. P. (2006). Penza Regional Clinical Hospital named after N. N. Burdenko: historical review: monograph. Penza: Information and Publishing Center of PSU. 350 p. ISBN 5-94170-135-7. (In Russ.).
33. Lisitsyn, Yu. P. (ed.). (2006). Essays on the history of medicine of the XX century: a monograph. Kazan: MedInfoCom. 335 p. ISBN 5-9900378-4-8. (In Russ.).
34. Maltsev, A. A. (2012). Demographic processes in the Russian countryside in 1946—1959: based on the materials of the Middle Volga region. PhD Diss. Samara. 226 p. (In Russ.).
35. Miterev, G. A. (1952). Ways of development of Soviet healthcare in the post-war years. Soviet healthcare, 5: 3—12. (In Russ.).
36. Navarro, V. (1977). Social security and medicine in the USSR: A Marxist critique. Lexington (Mass.), Toronto: Heath, Heath, cop. XXI, 149 p.
37. Novinskaya, T. Y. (2002). Welfare of the population of the Penza region: 1946 — early 1960s. PhD Diss. Penza. 226 p. (In Russ.).
38. Perekusikhin, M. V. (ed.). (2017). State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service of the Penza Region. On the 95th anniversary of its foundation. Penza: PSU Publishing House. 198 p. ISBN 978-5-906975-27-0. (In Russ.).
39. Petrovsky, B. V. (1967). 50 years of Soviet healthcare. 1917—1967: collection of articles. Moscow: Medicine. 698 p. (In Russ.).
40. Prokhorov, B. B. (2001). The health of the Russian population in the XX century: a monograph. Moscow: MNEPU Publishing House. 275 p. ISBN 5-7383-0184-6. (In Russ.).
41. Serebryany, R. S. (2024). Nutrition of the USSR population in the post-war years (1949— 1954). Problems of social hygiene, public health and the history of medicine, 32 (5): 1025—1032. DOI: 10.32687/0869-866X-2024-32-5-1025-1032. (In Russ.).
42. Sherstneva, E. V. (2024). State measures to ensure the availability of penicillin in the USSR in the second half of the 1940s. Healthcare of the Russian Federation, 68 (2): 170—173. DOI: 10.47470/0044-197X-2024-68-2-170-173. (In Russ.).
43. Shevchenko, Yu. L. (ed.). (2001). Russian healthcare. The twentieth century: a monograph. Moscow: GEOTAR-MED. 318 p. ISBN 5-9231-0092-4. (In Russ.).
44. Simonenko, V. B., Ovchinnikov, Yu. V. (2020). Towards the 75th anniversary of Victory. The contribution of medical workers to the victory in the Great Patriotic War. Clinical Medicine, 98 (1): 5—8. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.34651/0023-2149-2020-98-1-5-8. (In Russ.).
45. Stepanova, O. V. (2008). Healthcare in the Altai Territory in 1945 — mid-1960s: analysis of historical experience. PhD Diss. Barnaul. 311 p. (In Russ.).
46. Stryuchkov, V. V. (ed.). (2015). Vocation. Milestones of Penza medicine: a monograph. Penza: JSC “Regional Publishing Center”. 241 p. (In Russ.).
47. The population of Russia in the XX century: Historical essays: in 3 volumes, 2. (2001). Moscow: ROSSPEN. 414 p. ISBN 5-8243-0272-3. (In Russ.).
48. Tregub, P. A. (2004). Social development of the village in the 1950s: Based on the materials of the Saratov, Penza and Ulyanovsk regions. PhD Diss. Saratov. 211 p. (In Russ.).
49. Vinogradova, T. N. (2011). Development of healthcare in the Southern Urals in 1945—1953. PhD Diss. Orenburg. 250 p. (In Russ.).
50. Vishnevsky, A. G. (ed.). (2006). Demographic modernization of Russia, 1900—2000: a monograph. Moscow: New Publishing House. 608 p. ISBN 5-98379-042-0. (In Russ.).
51. Winter, V. F. (1996). Famine in the USSR 1946—1947: origin and consequences: monograph. Moscow: IRI. 265 p. ISBN 5-201-00595-0. (In Russ.).
52. Yatsenko, M. V. (2024). Restoration and development of regional healthcare in 1945—1965: based on the materials of the Kursk region. PhD Diss. Kursk. 295 p. (In Russ.).
53. Zabezhinsky, L. M. (1968). Healthcare of the Penza region for 50 years of Soviet power: materials for history: monograph. Saratov—Penza: Volga Book Publishing House. 128 p. (In Russ.).
54. Zatravkin, S. N. (2022). “Clubs” and “ghettos” of Soviet healthcare: a monograph. Moscow: SHIKO Publ. 352 p. ISBN 978-5-907348-26-4. (In Russ.).
55. Zatravkin, S. N., Vishlenkova, E. A. (2020). Restoration or creation? The post-war reform of Soviet healthcare. Problems of social hygiene, healthcare and the history of medicine, 28 (5): 1011—1016. DOI: 10.32687/0869-866X-2020-28-5-1011-1016. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Inozemtsev I.N., Sukhova O.A. Development of Curative and Preventive Healthcare Network in Penza Region during Postwar Period (1945–1953). Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(9):452-475. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-9-452-475






















