Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-08-28

A United States Army doctor
said today almost all child births
In the Soviet Union take place
without giving the mothers anes-
thetics.
Mai. Paul Schafer, chief Of
vascular and thoracic surgery
ct Walter Reed Hospital, said
he had seen expectant Russian
mothers ION o sort Of assembly
line" manage things practically
by themselves. He added that
In general the birth procedure
In Russia looks pretty good"
Mai. Schafer has Just COM
pleted an exhaustive survey OF
Soviet medicine. In his conclu-
sions he reported the Russians
in the current mood Of friend
ship and mutual help-are for
exchanges of American and So
Wet medical delegations.
The Army doctor, whose Wash
ington residence is at 5005 Gar
field street NV, Is the first
American ever permitted to do
such a study. There were both
favorable and unfavorable COM
ments on Soviet medical care in
the study Mai. Schafer made at
the invitation Of B. B. Petrovsky.
clinic chief of the Second Mos
COW Surgical Hospital.
Invited by Russian
Mr.. Petrovsky extended the
invitation when he attended the
World Congress of Medicine in
Washington last September. Mai.
Gen. Silas B. Hays, the United
States Army's surgeon-general.
okayed the idea, and Mai.
Schafer was permitted to visit
Sanatoria, clinics and research
centers in Leningrad, Moscow,
and Sochi on the Black Sea.
Maj. Schafer described a visit
to a Russian hospital ward
where he found 70 expectant
mothers on what he described
as a sort Of assembly line virtu-
ally caring for themselves.
He was told the expectant
mothers get four lessons from
doctors on how to use natural
forces for delivery. He showed
reporters detailed diagrams fur
nished the women showing them
how to use hand pressure and
other techniques to help along
the childbirth.
The women stop working at
the end of the 35th week of
pregnancy and may return to
their jobs IS days after bearing
q child, Mai. Schafer said.
Three Criticisms
The American doctor had
three main criticisms Of the So
Wet health program. They are:
/. Terrific over-centraliza-
ton" He said he had met one
man in Moscow who set up the
entire curriculum for every medi-
cal school in the Soviet Union.
2. "Over-staffing." He found
what he called extravaganza in
use Of physicians. One sanator-
ium for only a few hundred
patients had - staff Of 10 ply
sicians. A similar institution in
the United States would have
only two or three doctors on the
staff, he said.
He said Soviet authorities ex-
planned the situation by saying
training of doctors in past years
had been inadequate and that
many now are assigned to tasks
nurses or orderlies would do in
other countries. He added the
Soviet Health Ministry has no
choice but to use them (the
doctors) as best it can"
3. "A tremendous overuse of
women" He found 80 per cent
Of the medical profession in Rus
STA is female.
Il am no male supremacist, {"
he said, "but 1t is obvious (Rus-
siam men are not entering the
medical profession"
Blood Preservative Found
Maj. Schafer said he found
a very essive technique
whereby the Soviets can preserve
whole blood for 100 days, and
added. "the best we can do is
80 days." He explained the Rus
slams found a blood-preserving
chemical Of which Americans are
ignorant.
On the other hand, he found
no evidence that the Russians
are using plasma as blood SUBJ
stitues. az is done in the United
States and Germany.
Maj. Schafer said he was much
impressed by the inflrmaries at
Soviet industrial plants. He
found q 76-bed infirmary at q
Moscow factory. He said some
workers who would be totally
incapacitated in the Unite d
States stayed In the infirmary
and still put in half days work.
The American doctor described
Moscow's Bodkin Hospital as
typical. 1t has 2,400 beds and
performs 10000 surgical opera
tons O year, Of which 5000 are
appendectomies. The hospital
has o teaching staff OF 100, with