JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Journal of the Gábor Bálint de ...

January-March 2013 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume V., Issue 1.
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BHAT, Tarooq Ahmad & LONE, Sheeraz Ahmad
Soviet Healthcare System in Kazakhstan
Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. It is a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of
an organism, implicitly humans which is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, and social wellbeing.
It is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science, but also
through social and economic environment, the physical environment and the person's individual characteristics
and behaviours. The World Health Organization (WHO), in April 7, 1948, defined ‘health’ as "a state of complete
physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. So generally, the context
in which an individual lives is of great importance on his/her life quality and health status. The social and economic
environments are key factors such as clean water and air, safe houses, communities, roads, education etc. that all
contribute to good health status of an individual. It is what Soviets tried their best to determine in their health
planning in the Soviet Union through sheer determination, explicit execution and dedication of the field staff by
making available the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical
well-being through the services offered by the health workers. This maintenance was approached through an
indelible component of human social structures. The societal institution of healthcare was the necessary
phenomenon of Soviet civilization whereby an individual continually sought to improve, mend, and alter the
overall nature and quality of his or her life.
To achieve such assets Soviets also believed that religions, in whatever form were present in the region, have
created rituals, dogmas, taboos, etc. that hardly allowed any forward movement for material gains and therefore
attacked all religions to be practiced in real letter and spirit. To change the mental horizons of traditional societies
was not easy, it was rather a difficult one and creation of medical facilities for introduction of a health care system
was launched in big way. This was not only to make people healthy but also to create hygienic way of life where
after traditionalism was pushed away to live happily and also to give shape to the capacities and talent in human
nature for the enrichment and progress of society.
By all these ways the lifespan of an individual in Kazakhstan increased from mere 32 to 68 years and crude
mortality rate decreased just up to 6 per thousand infants. The purpose of this work is to unveil those efforts of the
Soviet health care which brought the Kazakh nomads a healthy and well-balanced light of modern health care
facilities.
Keywords:
Health; Hospital; Doctor; Life span; Mortality; Ayurveda; Shamana
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