“On a skinny horse in bad weather…”: the problem of availability of land medical care in Russia at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (according to the data of the Tula province)

The article discusses the evolution of “accessibility” concept in zemstvo medicine at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The main theoretical approaches to the definition of this concept at different stages of the development of medical thought are analysed. In the course of the study, the stages of this issue elaboration by the medical intelligentsia at the turn of the centuries were identified. On the example of zemstvo medicine in the Tula province (a typical province of central Russia), it is shown how ambiguously theoretical provisions were implemented in zemstvo practice.