U.S.S.R. SCIENTIFIC/POLITICAL MEDICINE AND HEALTH IN THE SOVIET UNION. III. ANCILLARY MEDICAL PERSONNEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00418R005600010005-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 5, 2008
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

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IIsS_._.. ?S_R.
S~_IFIC/POLITICAL
Med'cine and Health in the Soviet IInion.
III. gncill medical ersonnel
1? The work of ancillary medical ersonnel j
p sisters, ordarlies,
laboratory ;-corkers, X_ray technicians, masseurs, midwives, etc.)
in the "freers civil sector in genarzl (not in the "free" hospitals)
is of a higher standard than that of the field surgeons- service.
Nursing sisters have a training which is not inferior to the normal
Mining of a nursing sister ir. Western countries. Their nursing
~~ork is in general adequate ~?..nd the-
,~ ..ork normally und~ar the supervision
of the doctors, in menus c:;r~ps sisters and female personnel are naturally
not rivailable but only ordarlies. The orderlies also, like the sisters,
take t-z'ouble, they are sample, warm-heartad people ana have a certain
sense of vocation in their ;nor;:. Sub-spacia,lisation, for example iA
tho job of almoner (Wirtsphaftsschwester or -sanit~ter~, nursing sister
or ordarly (Pfleggschwester etC.) or sick room sister or ordarly
(Ambulanzsehwester ate. is not the practice, and the staffs must do
all dut~.es from Clowning to nursing duty eithar in the sick bays of
camps or in hospitals. T':ey follow an attentive routine, and in the
prison system they look after their patients quite nrell.
2? Quite otherwise is tho treatment of the so-call.,d free"
' " hospit~:,l
patients. Here the sisters and orderlies do their six-hour da
y according
to a specially prepared roster and have a second employment in addition
because they can/n~ot manage on their official sal,e,ry. As a rQSUlt they
An +i.,. i.---- - .f
-- --~"""oa`Lrr wor1= 'Ind a reliable administration
of medicine, injections or other items of treatment is not performed.
as, or? the ;vhole, it is in the camp hospitals. On numerous occasions
doctoral prescriptions ti~hich must, for example, be given regularly several
times a day e,re simply not carried out .nd when the doctor comes nn ~ n~~;~.
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on th? day after ho ?vill find that the patient has not had theme
prescribed. This happens above o,ll with those who are seriously ill
and therefore unable to look after thomselvas. Wishing, nursing,
feeding, the tidying of hods and many other duties are badly
carried out in the sick bays, and particularly those for the "free"
population. Dietbtic treatment is practically out of the question,
first because the nQCessary products are not _~,vailable and secondly
because sisters and orderli3s cannot or tivill not do the necessary
preparation. There thus rages a permanent]atent strife bettiaeen
conscientious doctors and their staff.
3. Laboratory -corkers in the chemical-microscopical and
bacteriological laboratories are not too badly trained. Chemical
examinations, microscopical preparations, blood counts (auszu+hlung
der Blutbilder~, bacterial ayes, the application of bacterial
cultures, blood examinations, according to the Wassermann test etc.,
and many other laboratory experiments can be described as generally
adequate. Lo,bora.tories are naturally everytivhere attached tc hospitals
as in the Western World and the performance of these laboratories
is quite reliable. The number ^f good laboratory Workers is however
far too small. As a rssult they a,re -;yell paid and obtain salaries
which are not lover than those of doctors. T!:ey also find it easy
to improve their material status ,~rith a secondary source of income
since they accept and carry out examination work on the "free" .F?~ ~r?i ^'?~ ~?
for vrhich they axe paid something additionzl. The working hours of
laboratory crorkers, as of doctors and field surgeons, are six hours
daily, except in the camps and among the prisoners vrhero there is no
limit.
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4. The supply of laboratories ~.aith material is difficult.
A~Zicroscopes as well as all other laboratory material such as glass
v?ssols, i~::plements and pipettes are old-fashioned and bad, gas
is never available :nd spirit lamps are used. A great :,hortage is
evident in the delivery of dyestuffs to laboratories and this is a
result of the general ~~eakness of the dye industry in Russia. Ther?
is a continual struggle to obtain the necessary dyes for the dyeing of
preparations though it must be accepted th.t the necessary quantities
could be made available without difficulty.
5. Unfortunately there exists in the laboratories the s:~e ~aidespread
system of corruption as elsewhere in Russia.. Those who wish to shirk
their work pay for falsified results.
6. X-ray technicians are ordin:~rily not tra,inod a,s such, but a,re
in favourable cases electricians. They learn to serve the apparatus
and to work the st-ritches. The doctor himself must see from the screen
that the X-ray picture is ready and after ~ time the technicians are
able to expose ,a,nd develop the films correctly.
7. Large X-ra,y apraratuses are only available in clinics. All small
cities and hospitals, and also tha prison ,~ospit~.ls, have X-ra,y app ratus
25X1
which in performance corresponds with army X-ray equipment. Bone
~photoPraphs...
~ in a hospital In a tubercular 25X1
ward of about 100 p-^~tients ~~, ou =~ f on the basis of a.'~or^tory
examination of sputum, rere declare l to be overtly tuberculru~. By means
of clinic~.l examination and X-r^,ya no positive finding co?~ld boo made.
The temper_~,ture curves were completely falsified :?rith small sub-febrile
te:zperatures. There ~:ras then a general check and it c~..me out that of
the entire group of 50 tubercular caws not a single one h=id tuberculosis,
even latent tuberculosis. Many had already been a year and longer in
the tubercular ward. Naturally the doctor and labor^tory worker ;were
removed and punished but that only had :~,n effect for a short time.
After six months to a ya~r the picture vaas ags,in the some . It is possible
to sii:~ulate chronic tuberculosis by buying sputum containing genuine
tubercular bacilli from ? genuine tubercular .and giving this up for
laboratory examination.- Peralanent control is necessary to suppress
this practic?.
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photographs etc. a.re just possible9 internal pictures, contras~~~~a~~
and exposures ,.=ire exceptionally difficult. Added to this is the fact
that the voltage in each small collective-farm po~aer station is so
small that even these small appar~.tuses can never be fully loaded.
The RtSgtgen tubes are of old-fashioned construction. For lung exposures
and pictures these equipments a,re too ~7ea.k,and, as a result, the X-ray
technique for lungs h:~.s reached a stage of development equivalent to
that reached in Europe 40 years ago. ~~i~
8. For stomach and boy;rel contr-~st exposures :end pictures this equipment
is only suitable for the exposition of very ;rent pathological abnorrs.liti~