THE ACTIVITY OF THE NARKOMZDRAV OF THE USSR HEADED BY G. A. MITEREV ON SUPPORTING HEALTH CARE INSTITUTIONS WITH PERSONNEL DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR OF 1941–1945

From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Peoples Commissariat of Health Care of the USSR (the Narkomzdrav of the USSR) headed by Georgy Andreyevich Miterev implemented an immense work to support with medical personnel deploying evacuation hospitals. By 1945, due to efforts of the Narkomzdrav of the USSR, in evacuation hospitals of the Narkomzdrav of the USSR staffing of established posts of physicians made up to 75.4% and nurses - 87.4%. At that, according to reports of G. A. Miterev, the USSR Health Care Peoples Commissar, by 1945 in health care administrations worked more than 100 000 physicians and 365 000 nurses against more than 140 000 physicians and other specialists of higher qualification and more than 425 000 nurses in 1940. During the Great Patriotic War changes in medical staff occurred: the percentage of women increased from 62.2% to 74.4%. About 20% of medical staff were graduated from universities during war years and received no full-fledged medical education. The elderly people prevailed among specialists. Despite all the efforts of the Narkomzdrav of the USSR headed by G. A. Miterev, the total number of medical personnel noticeably decreased by the end of the war. This was price that Soviet physicians paid for the victory.