People's Doctor of the USSR (russian: Народный врач СССР) was an honorary title granted to doctors of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

; it was established on 25 October 1977 by

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

and its creation was officialized on the n°44/1977 issue of

Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet (russian: Верховный Совет, Verkhovny Sovet, Supreme Council) was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ...

's official journal. Its regulation was later modified and completed by the Supreme Soviet's decree of 22 August 1988. It was conferred by the Supreme Soviet's presidency on behalf of the Ministry of Health. A diploma of the Supreme Soviet's presidency was given to those who were appointed ''People's Doctor'' jointly with the medal and its concerning certificate. The

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

could be bestowed to individual medical doctors and nurses but also to health care structures as

general hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

s, maternity wards or preventive medicine centres. The awarded people or structures were selected for their worthwhile contributions to public health improvement, for their peculiar skills and expertise and for having proved abnegation and high moral qualities in their duties fulfilment. Following the

Dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991, the title did not disappear. On 30 December 1995, by a decree of the

Russian presidency The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

, it was created the new title of '' Meritorious Doctor of the Russian Federation''. The title was first bestowed on 9 August 1978, when five people were awarded: * Viktor Nikolayevich Vasilenko * Lyudmila Vasilievna Yevstratova * Viktor Mikhailovich Ilin * Lyudmila Nilolayevna Mikhailova * Zagipa Madievna Madiyeva The last doctor to be praised was Dr. Vitaly Prokopievich Sergeyev from

Osh Osh (Kyrgyz: Ош, romanised Osh; uz, O‘sh/Ўш) is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country (e ...

( Kirghiz SSR), whom the medal was conferred on 20 December 1991.

Design

The medal was made of tombac and its shape was roughly quadrangular (22.5 x 23.5 mm). The central part was occupied by the inscription "Народный врач СССР" (''People's Doctor of the USSR'') on three lines and below, on the left, the

Bowl of Hygieia The Bowl of Hygieia is one of the symbols of pharmacology, and along with the Rod of Asclepius it is one of the most ancient and important symbols related to medicine in western countries. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of health, hygiene, cleanl ...

medical symbol and, on the right, a bay laurel branch. Symbols and inscriptions were embossed, with convex letters. The medal was suspended to a single red silk fringe (18 mm x 21 mm) to whom it was attached by a metallic buckle bearing the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

symbol.

Design

References

See also