Mid 1980s. Image courtesy of Life magazine.
Whenever there is a heated argument whether things were better during the USSR times, this statement invariably pops up as a mighty ace: At least they had free medical care in the Soviet Union! This is supposed to bring the opponent to the knees and make them beg mercy and forgiveness for betraying the Great October achievements.
Well well well. Let’s have a close look at what really was free then.
Remember our post about Slava Kurilov, the guy who jumped off the cruise ship near the Philippines islands — and swam to freedom for three consecutive days, completely alone at sea? Our today’s post tells a story just as remarkable — a young Russian surgeon Leonid Rogozov, stranded in Antarctica with the Sixth Soviet Antarctic Expedition, in 1961 performs a self-operation: under local anesthesia, surrounded by a bunch of guys whose only experience with medicine was sitting in a dentist’s chair, the 27th years old doctor removes his own appendix.
rogozovappendectomy2
1959. Typical grocery department. There is not too much food-stuff on the shelves. Actually, the shelves are completely empty. There is something behind the salesman hanging on the wall. It is difficult to recognise what that actually is. Look like decomposed cow carcasses or something wrapped in the oil-paper. Well, we want to believe that it is just meat.
In the grocery
Source: germanych.livejournal.com (in Russian)