Lithuania

LITHUANIA, a frontier state that proclaimed independence on 16/V 1918, which was recognized by the RSFSR after the war with Poland, by the treaty of 12/VII 1920. The territory of area 55,658 km² covers the former Russian gubernias of Kovno, parts of Vilna, Grodno, Suvalki, and Courland. The population of Lithuania according to the 1925 census equaled 2,710,616 inhabitants. The population density averaged 39 inhabitants per 1 km²; 76.7% of the population of Lithuania consists of the rural population; in cities and towns it is 23.3% of the population. In 1926, 10,364 people emigrated (4.6% of the population), in 1927 - 18,086 (8%), in 1928 - 8,491 (3.0%). About 70% of emigrants are rural inhabitants. The natural movement of the population gives the following indicators (per 1,000 of average population): Years 1922 ... 1928 ... Birth rate 27.3 27.3 28.4 28.9 28.5 29.3 28.8 1 Death rate 16.7 17.7 15.1 16.9 15.4 17.3 15.6 1 Increase 10.6 9.6 13.3 12.0 13.1 12.0 13.2 Thus, significant shifts compared with the pre-war period in the birth rate and death rate of the population of Lithuania did not occur. - The infant mortality rate in Lithuania in 1928 was 16 per 100 births. (At the same time, the rate of decline in infant mortality in the neighboring Belarusian SSR, which before the war was in approximately the same economic and sanitary conditions as Lithuania, was incomparably faster: in 1909 it was 18.5 per 100 births, in 1928 - only 9.4%.) - The epidemiological state of Lithuania is characterized by the following data for 1927 and 1928. Disease names Number of cases per 10,000 population 1927 1928 Typhoid and paratyphoid 3.4 2.0 Typhus 0.01 0.01 Relapsing fever 9.7 5.7 Smallpox 4.4 4.5 Measles 1.6 2.3 Scarlet fever 1.6 1.2 Whooping cough 183.2 18.1 Diphtheria 0.5 0.1 Influenza 0.01 0.03 Dysentery 9.8 6.1 Leprosy 0.5 0.3 Tuberculosis of all forms 0.01 0.3 Syphilis 9.8 7.9 Soft chancre 5.7 9.5 Gonorrhea 0.2 0.3 The organization of public health in Lithuania is managed by the medical department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the military, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Justice. The medical council, consisting of the medical department, is attached to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to which questions concerning various ministries are submitted for discussion. The Medical Department has three sections in its composition: sanitary, therapeutic, and pharmaceutical. The State Hygiene Institute, located in Kovno, is subordinate to it. The Institute has 4 departments: Pasteur, vaccine, bacteriological, and Wassermann. Each of the 20 districts of Lithuania is subordinate in a medical sense to the district physician. District and city physicians are appointed by the medical department. In each district and each city there is a sanitary commission, which includes the district and city physicians, two members of the city council, and the mayor. The district sanitary commissions are subordinate to the sanitary commissions of communes (a total of 302 communes). There are three public medical organizations: the Red Cross Society, the Society for the Fight against Tuberculosis, and the Jewish Society "Oze" (which has a dispensary, a colony, and a sanatorium for children and courses for nurses). - The sanitary condition of cities, not to mention the countryside, is low. Not a single city, with the exception of Memel, has either running water or sewage. In Kovno, sewage is being built. The housing crisis caused by the mass destruction of buildings during the imperialist war has not yet been overcome. The following data characterize the development of the medical network in Lithuania: Movement of the number of beds. Years 1914 1929 Number of beds 812 2,494 Inhabitants per 1 bed 2,185 The bed network is under the management of the state, municipal self-government bodies, and private individuals. A significant number of hospitals belong to private individuals. There are only 4 large hospitals with more than 100 beds in Lithuania. Of the institutions for the fight against tuberculosis in Lithuania, there are 3 TB dispensaries and 2 tuberculosis hospitals with 72 beds. The network of venereal disease institutions consists of 8 venereal dispensaries and 1 venereal hospital. Prostitution regulation has been preserved to this day. Prostitutes are examined by a physician twice a week. In Kovno in 1927 there were 194 registered prostitutes, of whom 129 (66.5%) were suffering from venereal diseases (67 with syphilis and 62 with gonorrhea). - Trachoma is widely spread in Lithuania. Inspection of recruits and schoolchildren showed that about 8% of the population is affected by trachoma. Of the institutions for the fight against trachoma, there is an eye clinic in Kovno, an eye hospital in Vilnius, and 3 eye outpatient clinics. - The network of institutions for the protection of maternity and infancy consists of 4 consultations for pregnant women and 4 consultations for infants; since 1926 a law has been introduced, according to which pregnant workers have the right to an 8-week leave: 2 weeks before childbirth and 6 weeks after childbirth. The Medical Department has organized several mobile exhibitions for the fight against tuberculosis and venereal diseases. The number of physicians in 1914 on the territory of Lithuania equaled 192, in 1929 it increased to 498; more than 30% of physicians fall to Kovno. In 1927, there were 338 feldshers (of whom 21 were female feldshers-midwives), 257 midwives. In 1920, the Red Cross Society opened a school for nurses in Kovno with a 2-year term of study. In 1922, a university with a medical faculty was organized in Lithuania, which has 4 departments: medical, veterinary, odontological, and pharmaceutical. In 1928, the medical faculty had 685 students. The State health budget in 1926 amounted to 4,747,039 litas (1.9% of the total state budget), of which for the medical department - 3,115,649 litas, for social insurance - 786,000 litas, for the Ministry of Culture - 232,416 litas, for the Ministry of Communications - 301,294 litas, and for the Ministry of Justice - 311,680 litas. In addition, for the year, 3,375,822 litas were allocated from the municipal, district, and communal budgets for health affairs. - Protection of labor. Although the law of 1919 formally introduced an eight-hour working day for 8 workers in industry, trade, and craft workshops, the absence of a special law regulating overtime work gives the opportunity in practice to make wide deviations from it. Insurance against disease is compulsory for workers and employees (for agricultural workers it is optional). Insurance contributions fall with a weight of 40% on the insured.