Medical workers and clerical staff of Laishev Zemstvo

The article focuses on doctors and auxiliary medical personnel of the Laishev District of the Kazan Province in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The personnel composition, as well as the working conditions of doctors, paramedics, obstetricians, and practitioners have been analyzed; a detailed description of the main activities is presented. The author shows that specialists were reluctant to work in the countryside due to low salaries, high workload associated with performing additional duties uncharacteristic of their specialty, as well as the need to travel to villages at any time of the year. It is concluded that, despite the difficulties of an economic and manegerial nature, as well as problems arising owing to peasants’ distrust in official medicine, thanks to the efforts of physicians, it was possible to create an effective system of zemstvo healthcare.