The Mechanism of Soviet Healthcare Administration at the Regional Level in 1945–1965.

Abstract

The paper analyzes the mechanism of state administration of the healthcare system in the Soviet Union at the regional level. For illustration purposes only, the author focuses on twenty years of the post-war period — from 1945 to 1965. The object of the study was the healthcare system of the Kursk region. The paper analyzes the legal framework of healthcare in the USSR, which developed during these years. Based on the results of the study, the author concludes that the regulatory legal acts in the field of healthcare that were available at that time did not allow the management of the healthcare system to be fully formed using legal methods. Until 1969, more than one law regulating the healthcare system was not even adopted in the USSR. The underdevelopment of the legal framework led to the fact that, along with state structures represented by the Ministries of Health of the USSR and the RSFSR and their local bodies, the CPSU (VKP(b) bodies played a significant role in the health system. Based on archival materials from the state archives of the Kursk region, the author analyzes the mechanism of functioning of health management in the period under review at the regional level. According to the results of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the mechanism of health care administration was based not only on normative legal acts of the state, but also on decisions of party bodies. Therefore, the experience of healthcare management in the Soviet period cannot be used in modern Russia, which has embarked on the path of building a rule of law state.