SOVIET RUSSIA

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1933, Page 7

SOVIET RUSSIA

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES. MOTIVES GOOD, EXECUTION POOR. An investigation into hospital and public health conditions in 'Soviet Russia was made recently by Mr A. J. Stephenson, a Melbourne architect, vho specialises in hospital work. He passed 'through Auckland by the Mariposa yesterday, having spent oven a year in investigating hospital conditions a broad under a commission from the Commonwealth Government.

“Russia is making strenuous endeavours to develop a sound public health service,” Mr Stephenson said, “but the apathy and ignorance of the people is perhaps the most serious obstacle. A Russian commission recently visited various parts of ’ Europe studying hospital methods, and as a result the- Dutch scheme of establishing a string of dispensaries in every large centre of population is ' being closely followed.

“The scheme in operation in Holland] appealed to me as one of the best I have seen. Dispensaries are established in almost every suburb, and, although they are under the control of the main base hospital, valuable decentralisation is the result. These chains of dispensaries ore already established in Moscow and Leningrad, “The new hospitals in Russia are interesting from ninny viewpoints, and fairly good both in regal’d to • equipment and treatment. However, the general people are so poor and- unenlightened that they cannot take 'advantage of the service. Conditions in Russia impressed me as being, the direct result of attempts to force- advanced ideas on «■ backward people. The general standard of intelligence must rise considerably before Russia as a . whole- can hope to benefit from Soviet ideals. Generally speaking, motives arc good, but their execution is poor. In th-o two chief cities, housing, sanitation and the like are of a very low order, and this naturally destroys much of the work done in the direction cf improving public health.” Mr Stephenson said lie found, the most '.advanced thought in hospital, organisation in Finland. ' 1 y'

English hospitals were entering a period of reorganisation, and considerable! development could .‘be expected during the next five yeas. The*-ortho-paedic work was excellent, .'and ’ the system of separate convalescent homes was one worthy of consideration in all parts of the world. On the other hand, hospital development iri- the United States was almost at a standstill as the result of years of overbuilding, and it was estimated that only AO per cent of the available hospital beds were occupied. '