Sanatorium and resort treatment in Russia: history and modern times
The trend for mineral water treatments was introduced by the Russian Tsar Peter I, who discovered its healing properties during his treatment in Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic) in 1711. This event was even marked by the installation of a small monument - a bust of Peter I adorns one of the Karlovy Vary hills - Peter's Peak. Since then, the tradition of being treated "on the waters" both in the Russian Empire and beyond its borders became popular among noble families and the creative intelligentsia. For example, Russian poets and writers Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy often visited the Caucasian Mineral Waters (Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk). Zhukovsky, Turgenev, Nekrasov, Dostoevsky vacationed in the German Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden. The last Russian Emperor Nikolay II and the Russian writers Gogol and Goncharov were treated in Marienbad (now Marianske Lazne, Czech Republic).
Concept of sanatorium treatment did not exist in pre-revolutionary Russia. But everything changed after the October Revolution of 1917 and the formation of the USSR.
Photographer Arkadi Shaikhet
The opening of the peasant resort "Livadia" (Crimea). Vacationers' tour of the former royal palace: in the royal bedroom
The development of sanatorium and resorts in the young Soviet republic adhered to the principle put forward by Vladimir Lenin: "Resorts for workers". Since 1917 workers and peasants were given free or partly paid access to resorts and sanatoriums.
Every year hundreds of thousands of workers have received vouchers to sanatoriums. Everyone could get into the health resort - regardless the age, gender and standard of living. As a rule, the duration of treatment and holiday duration was 24 up to 52 days. It was a real "detox" in the Soviet way: therapeutic baths and showers, mud therapy, various wraps, inhalations, massage, physical therapy, and even therapeutic sleep. Active leisure for vacationing citizens was also provided: sports, swimming, chess games, literary and musical evenings, excursions and walks.
Sanatoriums and resorts became national property and also defined the basic principles in the country: state and mass character, accessibility. Trade unions were involved in the management of the resorts, and medical scientific communities participated in the development of resorts.
By the beginning of 1940 there were 3600 sanatoriums and health resorts in the USSR for 470 thousand beds in Caucasus region, Ural and Siberia.
Photographer unknown
Date of shooting: 1941
The construction of the Massandra Palace (Crimea) began in 1881. From 1929 to 1941, it was used as a sanatorium "Proletarian Health" for seriously ill people with tuberculosis. Currently it is a museum.
In 1960 trade unions controlled almost all sanatoriums, rest resorts and boarding houses. Trade union committees distributed some of the vouchers free of charge, and some for 30% of the cost.
Photographer Valentin Khukhlaev
Children of miners
Date of shooting: July 9, 1953
A recreation center of the Coal Industry Trade Union in Chelyabinsk region on the shore of three lakes. The comfortable and bright rooms accommodated more than three hundred people. Leisure facilities included a library, a cinema hall, sports grounds, swimming pools, a boat station, fishing.
By 1970 the Soviet state put into operation more than 42 thousand new beds, and by 1985 - another 215 thousand.
In the 1970s, a new function was assigned to sanatoriums - follow-up care. As an experiment, since 1967 several Moscow research institutes and departments of medical institutes received sanatorium beds for their patients who had suffered from acute diseases. The conditions in the health resorts were perfect for the final stage of patient rehabilitation.
In the 1990s, according to "National Economy for 70 Years", there were 5 853 sanatoriums in the country providing services for recreation, health improvement, prevention of diseases and follow-up care.
The collapse of the USSR at the end of 1991 and the transition to a market economy hit the health resort industry of Russia hard: the recreational space was reduced since almost 2.5 thousand facilities passed to the former Soviet republics - now independent states. The material base was sharply reduced with significant damage of the resorts in Russia.
Sanatorium Medea, Tskaltubo, Georgia
The industry was saved by enthusiasts – employees of sanatoriums who decided to privatize the crumbling resort facilities. However, the main owner of the sanatorium and resort industry was the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, organized in 1990.
In the 2000s, the first independent health resort enterprises began to develop. For example, in 2005 Johnson Khagajeev, who had left the post of CEO of Norilsk Nickel several years earlier, built his own health resort. In the mid of 2000s, foreigners entered the industry. For example, the AFI Development company of the Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev invested in the Plaza SPA Hotels & Health resort in Kislovodsk.
Picture from kislovodsk.plaza.spa
The 2008 world financial crisis in Russia slowed down investment activity, but this was just a lull before a new wave of development.
The Soviet sanatorium heritage inherited by industrial enterprises is partly alive and even thriving. Among the most famous owners are the joint-stock companies Surgutneftegaz, Norilsk Nickel, and Tatneft. However, in general the health improvement of workers has ceased to be a priority for plant owners: over the past 25 years it is the segment of health resorts that has been depleted more than others.
Russian legislation also establishes preferential categories of citizens who have the right to completely free health treatment once a year, including:
- disabled people;
- persons exposed to radiation at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant;
- veterans of the Great Patriotic War and some others.
In 2017 the National Standard of the Russian Federation introduced the concept of "health tourism". This is a tourist activity with the main purpose to provide tourists with health, preventive and recreational services provided in health resorts.
It is also noteworthy that a new medical profession has emerged – a balneologist. This is a doctor who has information about the natural and climatic conditions of the resort areas of the country (or the world) and treats patients with water, air and therapeutic mud. A balneologist assesses the health of a patient referred for spa treatment. He or she meets patients at sanatoriums, prescribes treatment, rehabilitation and preventive procedures and evaluates the results of spa therapy. Specialists in this specialty are trained in many higher educational institutions in the country.
It should also be noted that the services currently provided at sanatoriums have expanded significantly. In addition to traditional treatment and physiotherapy, ayurveda, yoga, detox, anti-stress and cosmetology programs and a variety of spa treatments are offered.
Surveys of tourism industry experts have shown that every third tourist who buys a sanatorium package focuses on the unique natural healing factors of the resorts: mineral waters, brine, therapeutic mud and clay, climate. The cost of the package and the range of procedures included in the package are also important. Based on these factors tourists most often book sanatoriums in the Caucasian Mineral Waters, Krasnodar Krai, the Urals and Siberia, and the Moscow region.
Below we will provide a brief description of these resorts and the cost of accommodation/treatment at some of them.
Picture from https://mayrveda.ru/en/
Caucasian Mineral Waters (Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk, Essentuki)
There are more than 100 springs of 30 different names on the territory of KavMinVody, which are used for medical purposes. In this indicator the region has no analogues in the world.
At Mayerveda Kislovodsk 5* resort (Kislovodsk) the average cost of accommodation and treatment is from $394.7/night
In the «Rus» 4* sanatorium (Essentuki) the average cost of accommodation and treatment is from $80.5/night
Krasnodar Krai
People come here primarily for treatment with hydrogen sulfide waters, drinking local medicinal waters and medicinal mud.
Sanatorium "Yuzhnoe Vzmorie" 4* (Sochi) - average cost from $112.3/night
Sanatorium "Nadezhda" 3* (Anapa) - average cost from $80.5/night
Urals and Siberia
Sanatoriums in this region offer treatment with mineral waters, mud from local lakes, thermal springs of radon waters with a high content of nitrogen oxide and silicon.
The most famous of them is the Belokurikha sanatorium (Altai Krai), the average cost of treatment in which is from $90/night
Moscow Region
Sanatoriums in the Moscow region located in the forest-steppe zone offer climatotherapy, mud, balneotherapy and drinking treatment.
Spa-sanatorium "Barvikha" 4* - average cost from 587$/night
Sanatorium "Novaya Istra" 4* - average cost from 104$/night
Sanatorium "Dorokhovo" 3* - average cost from 50$/night
Unique health follow-up system of the Soviet Union does not exist anymore, still everyone who wants to improve their health can find something for themselves.
