Private medical practice in Russia(18th - early 20th centuries)

Private entrepreneurship in health care developing in contemporary Russia makes the study of private medical practice in historical aspect a matter of increasing interest. Based on official documents, archival materials, statistical data, and records of contemporaries this form of health care which occupied a huge niche until the 20th century is subject to analysis for the first time in modern national historiography. The article studies factors which affect the development of private practice, its legal regulation, the private doctor’s remuneration, and the attitudes of the medical community to this sort of activity. It becomes obvious that capitalist relations entering the area of health care make medicine a commercialized sphere. The author concludes that private medicine became a political issue by the early 20th century as a result of developed public medicine.