- Time Period: Post-WW2
- Year of Institution: 25 October 1977
- Country: Russia & USSR
The People’s Doctor of the USSR Medal (or Медаль Народный врач СССР, Narodnyj vrač SSSR in Russian) was established on 25 October 1977 by Leonid Brezhnev and awarded for worthwhile contributions to public health improvement. The title was officialized on the n°44/1977 issue of Supreme Soviet’s official journal. Its regulation was later modified and completed by the Supreme Soviet’s decree of 22 August 1988.
The honorary title 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 could be bestowed to individual medical doctors and nurses but also to health care structures as general hospitals, sanatoriums, maternity wards, or preventive medicine centers. 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 fulfillment.
Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the title was replaced by that of Meritorious Doctor of the Russian Federation.
The People’s Doctor of the USSR Medal Design
The medal was made of tombac and its shape was quadrangular. It measures 22.5 by 23.5 mm.
The central part is occupied by the inscription “Медаль Народный врач СССР” on three lines and below, on the left, the Bowl of Hygieia medical symbol and, on the right, a bay laurel branch. Symbols and inscriptions were embossed, with convex letters.
The medal is suspended to a single red silk fringe measuring 18 mm by 21 mm with an attached metallic buckle decorated with the hammer and sickle symbol.
