3,846,000 Roubles Spent by Agro-joint Subsidized Groups for Health of Russian Jews

From 1924 to 1929 the sum of 3,846,000 roubles was spent by the Jewish communal and aid societies which are subsidized by the Agro-Joint for free medical aid to the Jews in the various cities and townships where the Agro-Joint operates, according to figures compiled by Agro-Joint officials here. This work is done by the Medical Commission of the Agro-Joint.

From 1924 to 1929 the number of these societies that the Agro-Joint has subsidized increased from 4 to 49 and in 1927 reached a total of 55. The Jewish population in the regions where these aid societies functioned was 1,130,000 in 1929 as compared with 550,000 in 1924. Similarly the amount of money spent by these societies each year increased from 110,000 roubles in 1924 to 1,130,000 roubles in 1929 and a total of 3,846,000 roubles for the entire period.

Indications of some measure of self-support on the part of these local aid societies are seen in the increased percentages of the funds used for medical aid that are contributed by the societies themselves. In 1924 the Agro-Joint contributed 50 percent of the funds and the local societies a similar amount. In 1925 the local societies furnished two thirds of the money and the Agro-Joint the rest. By 1926 the Agro-Joint’s contribution fell to 25 percent of the total and in 1929 it was only eighteen and a half percent. The number of people who received aid in the medical institutions maintained by these societies increased from 169,000 in 1924 to 1,350,000 in 1929. The total for the entire period was 5,085,000.

The importance of the medical aid rendered by these local societies with the aid of the Agro-Joint is seen in the fact that lack of means prevents the government from extending free medical aid to the entire population and hence limits this service to insured working-men, government employes and the basic classes of the peasantry. Since the Jewish population of the cities and townships is to a large extent not entitled to all forms of free government medical aid the value of the aid rendered by the local Jewish societies is apparent.