Alexander Hospital (Kharkov)

In the middle of the XIX century , the question arose with the treatment of an ever-increasing population of the city. Saburova's cottage was overcrowded, university clinics could accept a very limited number of patients, the hospital of the Medical Society that arose a little earlier in 1863 had only an outpatient clinic , only wealthy residents could afford the services of practicing doctors. The poorest people in the city could not receive inpatient treatment at all - they were treated mainly at home.

May 25, 1867 in Paris there was an attempt on the emperor Alexander II . Kharkov residents decided to perpetuate the memory of the king’s salvation by building a hospital for the poorest segments of the population. The initiator of the construction was the mayor of N. D. Shatunov. His idea was supported by the governor Pyotr Pavlovich Durnovo , who made a large donation of 25 thousand rubles for the construction of the hospital and suggested that it be called Alexandrovskaya. He became the honorary lifelong trustee of the hospital, after the end of its construction. Wealthy Kharkiv citizens made charitable contributions, the City Duma also supported the construction, allocating funds from the budget for it. The discovery took place on August 30, 1869 , the charter was approved a few days later on September 7 . The hospital is located in a new stone house on Blagoveshchenskaya Street No. 25 (now Karl Marx Street) near Prison Square . Until 1840s, the Institute of Noble Maidens was in this place, and after its relocation, the old dilapidated building was used as the barracks of the internal guard.

The hospital was designed to receive patients of all classes and faiths with all diseases, with the exception of mental illness. The main contingent is the poor and workers. Also, visitors were treated in it - the railway sent its patients here. Sometimes, military personnel had to be treated, despite the fact that the city had a separate military hospital - during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, about 500 wounded and sick people brought from the front were treated here. In addition to the hospital, the hospital also had an outpatient clinic with free distribution of medicines.

At the time of opening in 1869, the hospital had only 100 beds and immediately faced congestion and the need for expansion. Already in 1873, the hospital premises were expanded, which allowed the addition of 30 more beds. In 1878, another extension of 30 beds - 160 beds. After the refusal of the Zemstvo to accept excess patients in Saburova's dacha , which mainly treated patients from the province, the Alexander Hospital was expanded in 1882 to 220 beds. The epidemic of typhoid fever , which occurred in Kharkov in 1889 , forced the city to open an additional compartment for 36 beds. And in 1891, a room for 40 beds was hired. With the epidemic of typhus in 1892, a branch of the Alexander Hospital was opened at the provincial zemstvo hospital, at first 60 and then 75 beds.

By the end of the 19th century, the main hospital premises accommodated 240 beds. But due to chronic overcrowding, the city council decided in 1895 to build the Nikolaev Hospital , located in the eastern part of the city on Korsikovskaya Street . The opening of this hospital in 1900 made it possible to remove part of the load from Alexandrovskaya.

In 1905, the hospital already had 260 beds. By 1915, the number of beds in the Alexander Hospital exceeded 300. ^[1]

In the post-revolutionary time, the hospital was renamed and became known as the First Soviet Hospital named after Lenin . ^[2] In the future, it became known simply as the First Clinical Hospital .

In 2016, the hospital buildings were purchased by the implant private clinic specializing in artificial insemination. As of 2018, the reconstruction and reconstruction of old buildings is ongoing.

From the moment the hospital was founded, an obligatory annual fifty-cent collection was collected from all the factory and factory workers, laborers, domestic workers, cabbies and traders. When they visited the hospital, they were not charged. Persons who did not belong to the working class could receive treatment by paying for it. The city constantly allocated funds for the maintenance and expansion of the hospital. Private individuals also donated a lot.

The fee was initially paid in the hospital itself, in return for it a hospital ticket was issued, which gave the right not to provide free assistance in the hospital for a year. Often the fee was paid only before going to the hospital, one ticket was bought for the whole artel, which led to a constant shortage of funds. Subsequently, the fee was increased to 1 ruble per year and began to be paid in police departments. Persons who did not pay the hospital fee could not register a passport.

From 1869 to January 1, 1902, a hospital fee worth more than 660 thousand rubles was collected to finance the hospital, and city funding amounted to about 700 thousand more. The total amount of funds from all sources received and spent by the hospital for this period amounted to more than 1 million 750 thousand rubles. Also, by the beginning of the 20th century, the hospital had untouchable capital in the amount of 100 thousand rubles, purposefully donated by private individuals to maintain free beds and provide patients.

After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the establishment of Soviet power, the hospital began to be fully funded from public funds.

• Bagaley D., Miller D. History of the city of Kharkov for 250 years of its existence, vols. I - II , - X., printing house M. Zilberberg and Sons, 1905, 1912;
• Gusev A.N. Kharkov - its past and present. Historical and reference guide. - H., printing house of Adolf Darre, 1902.