Ministry of Health (USSR)

All ministry seals use the USSR state emblem

The **Ministry of Health** (Russian: Министерство здравоохранения *Ministerstvo zdravookhraneniya*; abbr. Миниздравие СССР *Minizdravie SSSR*) is an all-union ministry subordinate to the Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It provides healthcare free of charge to all citizens of the union's national republics. Healthcare was formerly the province of republican ministries with union-republican funding; in 2009, as part of a wider comprehensive reform of the single-payer healthcare system in the Eurasian Union, the various ministries were abolished and public health services, ambulances and hospitals reorganised under the new all-union ministry. Most national republics retain independent state commissions responsible for overseeing the general application of health policy by the all-union ministry in their respective domain.

## Structure

The following organisations answer to the Ministry of Health:

* National Health Authority: The primary agency responsible for administering the single-payer system and overseeing its complementary clinics, hospitals, emergency wards, pharmacies, rehabilitation centres, and all other related healthcare facilities in the country.
* People's Health Commissariat: Responsible for supervising professional practices at all levels of the public healthcare system, ensuring the proper application of state health policy; all PHC commissars are members of the People's Inspectorate under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (AUCP).

### Directorates

* Pharmaceutical Accreditation Directorate: Responsible for developing policy regarding the marketing of medicinal drugs and other health products, and enforcing said policy via a strict, comprehensive approval process.
* Food Safety and Nutrition Directorate: Responsible for enforcing national policy regarding food safety within the food industry as well as other public kitchens, as well as developing national guidelines regarding nutrition and fitness.
* Waste Management and Sanitation Directorate: Responsible for supervising the waste management systems of the nation and ensuring their adherence to sterilisation and treatment standards.
* HAZMAT (Hazardous Materials) Directorate: Responsible for ensuring safe standards of handling of hazardous materials, such as chemical, biological, biochemical, or radioactive materials by various sectors, as well as responding to hazardous materials spills and other emergencies.
* Veterans' Health Directorate: Responsible for administrating a comprehensive program of post-service healthcare and social and financial support for veterans of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union.
* Transfusion and Transplant Directorate: Responsible for overseeing the national system of organ and tissue transplant and blood transfusion and donor registration and recipient wait listing.
* Statistics and Policy Improvement Directorate: Responsible for collecting and organising all statistics pertinent to healthcare, and applying this data toward the improvement of health services overall in the country.
* Professional Accreditation Directorate: Responsible for setting out and enforcing professional standards within the healthcare sector, including licensing medical and nursing schools and residency programs and managing board certification of medical professionals.
* Substance Dependence Policy Improvement Directorate: Responsible for supervising programs related to the treatment of drug and alcohol addictions and developing and implementing recommendations for their improvement.