As part of a project organized by the Iowa Council for International Understanding and funded by the Agency for International Development, healthcare workers from the United States visit the Russian Federation to review the status of infection control in selected Russian hospitals. In September of 1993, the United States team reviewed hospitals in Stavropol, a major city in the southwest part of the Russian Federation. This report summarizes issues and problems faced by an 810-bed tertiary care hospital in Stavropol.

It is difficult to examine the development of Soviet/Russian healthcare without examining both ideological and political factors on one hand and reality on the other. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the victors did not acquire a problem-free system. On the contrary, it was politically corrupt and economically bankrupt. It faced serious shortages of medical personnel, equipment, supplies, and facilities. The lack of basic necessities such as soap and disinfectants further added to the crisis. Isolation hospitals were built in a vain attempt to eliminate epidemics. During this period, Russian health services lagged considerably behind Western Europe.