D. E. Rosenberg (Moscow)

Meeting of Municipal Sanitary Inspectors of Moscow Region

When, in the summer of 1936, the Moscow Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate surveyed outlying districts in response to a rise in intestinal diseases, it found that in the Pushkino, Ukhtomsky, Mytishchi, Ramenskoye, Reutov, Kaluga, Mikhailov, Epifan, Efremov, and other districts of Moscow Region, matters concerning the sanitary condition of urban areas and residential properties, sewage disposal, and sanitary improvement measures had not been coordinated with the epidemic-prevention plan and had escaped the attention of sanitary supervision. It was also established that 3 million rubles allocated by municipal services departments for cleaning and sanitary improvement measures had either not been used or were being used for unintended purposes in a number of districts.

To determine how the district sanitary inspectorates had prepared for winter, in particular with respect to the organization of preventive sanitary measures and municipal improvements, the Moscow Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate convened a special meeting of municipal sanitary inspectors in Moscow on November 16, 1936. In addition to the sanitary inspectors, participants included staff of the Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate, senior and research staff of the Erisman Sanitary Institute, and assistant district sanitary inspectors undergoing refresher training in Moscow.

Following reports by M. I. Khazanov, “On Immediate Measures in Housing and Municipal Sanitation,” and A. M. Lomovsky, “On the Organization of Sanitary Protection Zones for Central Water-Supply Sources,” brief statements on these matters were made by district state sanitary inspectors: Prozorovsky (Ukhtomsky District), Krause (Shchyolkovo District), Pyshkin (Orekhovo-Zuyevo District), Kessler (Kuntsevo District), and others. They described the preventive work undertaken to avert typhoid fever and typhus, as well as the reasons impeding the implementation of necessary housing and municipal sanitation measures, among other matters.

The presentations indicate that vigorous work is under way in the districts to improve sanitation in populated areas. In some places, however, sanitary inspectorates are still doing too little to promote sanitation in housing and residential properties, and the cleaning of those properties requires immediate, decisive, and effective action.

The discussion of the reports included contributions by Kantov (Noginsk), Mogilevsky (Moscow–Volga Canal), Zinovyeva, Professor Khetsrov (Erisman Institute), Müller (Krasnogorsk), Ovchinnikov (hydrogeologist), Ettinger (director of the Erisman Institute), and others. Proposals were made for a fundamental improvement in the organization and establishment of sanitary protection zones around central water-supply sources in 1937; for strengthening the hydrogeological survey service at the Erisman Sanitary Institute; and for including in the 1937 research program a number of topics concerning a sanitary survey of the Klyazma River as far as the boundary between Moscow and Ivanovo regions, the study of certain issues relating to agriculture and the forest-park zone, and the study of industrial wastewater and copper-ammonia wastewater, among other subjects.

Concerning the organization and establishment of sanitary protection zones around central water-supply sources, the meeting expressed the wish that the Erisman Sanitary Institute draw up a plan of priority measures for organizing the zones and instructions for design organizations and sanitary inspectors on preparing and approving zone plans. The Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate was to secure the allocation of appropriate funds from regional organizations for the establishment of protection zones according to the list drawn up. District state sanitary inspectors, in turn, were to ensure locally that the necessary allocations for establishing protection zones were included in the 1937 target figures. The meeting considered it necessary to publish materials in 1937 addressing the organization of protection zones. The Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate and the Erisman Sanitary Institute were instructed to refine the list of Moscow Region districts that should, as a priority in 1937, prepare maps of hydrogeological cross sections and establish protection zones. District sanitary inspectors were advised to consult the Erisman Sanitary Institute on the organization of sanitary protection zones.

The meeting recommended that district state sanitary inspectors ensure the prompt and timely implementation of all necessary sanitary measures to prevent typhoid fever and typhus. It outlined a series of practical measures to improve sanitation in the populated areas of Moscow Region.

On the basis of the meeting’s decisions, the Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate issued a directive to the region’s district and housing and municipal state sanitary inspectors, instructing them to:

1. Ensure that dormitories in cities, workers’ settlements, state farms, and machine and tractor stations (MTS) are brought into satisfactory sanitary condition; prohibit the use of dormitories that do not meet sanitary requirements or have not been properly repaired until the existing deficiencies have been remedied; and exercise the strictest oversight of comprehensive sanitary treatment of dormitories, requiring the responsible economic organizations to carry it out systematically.

2. Carefully inspect the condition of bath and laundry facilities in the district’s populated areas and ensure that all bathhouses and laundries are put into proper working order.

3. Take stock of bathhouses on collective and state farms, ensure that they are used for their intended purpose, and put them into proper and regular operation; do the same for basic disinfection facilities.

4. Inspect collective farms and determine where bathhouses must be established, wells improved, and latrines built, in accordance with the Moscow Regional Executive Committee’s resolution of April 17, 1936, “On Improvements to Collective Farms in Moscow Region”; at least 25% of the collective farms in each district must receive public bathhouses and improved wells during the current year.

5. Inspect the condition of barbershops and establish new ones as needed, providing them for state farms and the district’s largest collective farms; arrange for barbers to make regular visits to outlying collective farms in the district.

6. Ensure intensified and systematic oversight of sanitary conditions in schools and state farms, with the participation of all sanitary workers and local physicians.

The Regional State Sanitary Inspectorate drew the districts’ attention to the need to involve volunteer sanitary representatives in this work in cities, workers’ settlements, state and collective farms, and individual large public institutions such as schools.