Consolidation of the rural medical community in the Tobolsk Governorate in the early 20th century

Templing V.Ia. (Tyumen, Russian Federation)

               page 137–145

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The present article is aimed at studying district congresses of rural doctors from the Tobolsk Governorate, a unique phenomenon in the history of the Siberian medical community. Congresses are considered to be an integral part and development indicator of the corporate social initiative, as well as the professional interaction of medical specialists. On the basis of documents being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the author analysed the activity of rural doctors within the paradigm of the general theory of modernisation, as well as characterised the materials of meetings, the range of issues under discussion, main recommendations and results. It is shown that the activity of the medical community was not limited to the work of scientific and practical societies of governorate centres — it was much wider and richer. The fact of holding two provincial and a number of district congresses in the Tobolsk Governorate (from 1903 to 1912) was established. District congresses became a place for establishing personal contacts between doctors, sharing opinions and experiences, formulating proposals, which were then discussed at the governorate forum and laid the foundation for administrative decisions. They demonstrated a strong motivation of rural specialists in medicine, which in fact began to develop in Siberia only starting from the late 1880s, for professional consolidation and for the development of common approaches to solving regional problems. The materials of district congresses also prove the formation of a new health model among the rural population, characteristic of modern society. A doctor became a familiar and necessary element of the social environment for a peasant. It should be noted that district congresses were not large-scale, they were not public mouthpieces, did not become the driving force of reforms and the generator of significant public projects. Their history was too short; the level of rural medicine and, in general, the entire medicine of the governorate was too low. Nevertheless, the need for professional consolidation and communication turned out to be so strong that it allowed doctors, albeit with the support of the administration, to carry out serious preparatory work in districts and hold two governorate congresses. Clearly, this constitutes definite evidence of qualitative changes in the state of the local medical community.

Key words: professional community, history of medicine, doctors’ convention, rural medicine, medical station, feldsher station, hospital,
non-governmental initiative.