Creation of inpatient ophthalmological care system in Ufa in the early 20th century

In the pre-revolutionary period, the care of disabled and other suffering people who did not have the necessary material support was carried out in the Russian Empire with the support of the imperial family and public participation. The guardianship of Empress Maria Alexandrovna of the blind was the only organization supporting blind people. Established in 1886, the Ufa department of guardianship charged itself with the care, education and employment of the poor with eyesight diseases in the province. To accomplish this task, there was opened an asylum for sight-disabled people, where the training of adult blind was conducted, which was later reorganized into the Ufa specialized school for blind children. From 1901, this institution became the basis for the first free eye clinic in Ufa. The significance of this project is that the clinic took up the issue of treating the provincial population that had suffered from eye diseases and had had no access to health care in the field of ophthalmology before. Despite the limited support of the provincial and town authorities, for 25 years of its existence the Ufa eye clinic broadened the scope of its activities, providing adequate medical care. As a result, it became the basis for creating the specialized research institute which continues to provide ophthalmological care to the population till the present day. The Department also headed the ophthalmological care service in the Ufa province, opening the first Ufa free eye clinic. To date, there has been no holistic study on the development of the ophthalmological care service in Ufa province. The basis of the work is archival documents from the Russian State Historical Archives, the National Archives of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the State Archives of the Republic of Crimea, the Moscow Central State Archives, the State Archives of the Tomsk oblast, the State Archives of the Saratov oblast, and the State Archives of the canton of Bern (Switzerland): statistical materials, legislative acts, documents of management and record keeping, etc. of the period under review, thanks to which it was possible to restore the chronology of the work of the Ufa Eye Clinic, the biography of the directors of the clinic, whose fates were closely linked with the history of the country.