History of the formation and development of the Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College (1845 – 2025)
Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College is one of the oldest educational institutions of professional pre-higher education in Ukraine.
Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College was created as a result of the reorganization of three educational institutions: Kharkiv Basic Medical College No. 1 (founded in 1845), Kharkiv College of Medical Equipment (founded in 1931) and Kharkiv Medical College No. 2 (founded in 1937).
In 1829, a decision was made to create paramedic schools at the hospitals of social and medical institutions of that time – the Orders of Public Care. In 1832, this decision was supplemented by an indication that the first paramedic schools should be opened in the cities of Kazan, Kharkiv and Vilna (now Vilnius). The creation of paramedic schools initiated the organization of systematic qualified medical care for wide segments of the population.
In 1845, as part of the institutions of the Kharkiv Order of Public Care, the Kharkiv Paramedic School was opened, from the beginning of which our educational institution has been leading its history.
For almost 100 years (until 1941), the Kharkiv Paramedic School worked as a structural unit of the hospital town – the Kharkiv Provincial Hospital, now the City Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No. 3 (popularly known as “Saburova Dacha”). It was the oldest and largest hospital in our region. The activities of both the hospital and the paramedic school were managed by the provincial Medical Board, which worked as part of the Kharkiv Public Care Order.
In the Kharkiv Medical School, students studied both at the expense of the state (provincial scholarship) and at their own expense – “svoekoshtne”. The educational institution was part-time headed by the Senior Physician of the Provincial Hospital (in 1845-1853 M.P. Serebryakov). At the beginning of its formation, the Kharkiv Medical School taught grammar, Latin, the Law of God, arithmetic, a general concept of anatomy, pharmacology, desmurgy (the art of applying bandages), rules for caring for the sick and smallpox vaccination.
The students of the Kharkiv Medical School studied in classes in the morning, studying theoretical subjects, and in the afternoon they visited patients, helping doctors. Clinical and special subjects were taught by resident doctors who practiced in the same hospital. The full course of study was designed for four years and was divided into two classes. After two years of study, students took an exam. After completing the full course, the Medical Board, in the presence of members of the Order of Public Care, took the exam and, depending on its results, awarded graduates the title of “senior” or “junior” paramedic.
In 1867, the Kharkiv Order of Public Care was liquidated and the Kharkiv Medical School was subordinated to the Kharkiv Provincial Zemstvo.
The Zemstvo period of activity in the history of the Kharkiv Medical School was one of the most fruitful.
Since 1874, the Kharkiv Zemstvo allowed female students to be admitted to the Medical School, establishing 12 scholarships for them (one from each district). Upon entering the school, female scholarship holders had to graduate from the Zemstvo Midwifery School (existing since 1866).
In 1907, the Kharkiv Medical Assistant School was reorganized into a medical assistant and midwifery school, providing training in two specialties – medical assistant and midwife.
On January 15, 1916, a new Statute of the Kharkiv Provincial Zemstvo Medical School was approved, which regulated all aspects of its activities.
Among the teachers of the medical school at that time, we find the names of prominent figures in medicine in the Kharkiv region: the head of the Department of Pathological Anatomy of the Medical Faculty of Kharkiv University, Professor M.F. Melnikov-Razvedenkov, the prominent medical statistician S. Igumnov, the anatomist V.P. Vorobyov, one of the founders of Ukrainian dentistry M.Yu. Gofung.
In the early 1920s, the Kharkiv Medical School was subordinate to the Main Directorate of Professional Education of the People’s Commissariat of Education of Ukraine and was called the “First Kharkiv Courses of Physician Assistants”.
In the late 1920s, in accordance with new requirements, the name of the educational institution was changed to the “First Kharkiv Medical College of the “United Dispensary”. In 1930, due to the fact that the Ukrainian Research Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology was organized on the territory of the former provincial hospital, the educational institution organized the training of specialists in a new direction – assistant psychoneurologist, and the school was named “Kharkiv Psychoneurological College”. But in 1936, the educational institution returned its time-tested name – paramedic school.
The history of the formation of Kharkiv Medical College No. 2 is closely connected with the development of dental care and education in Ukraine.
The title of “dentist” appeared in 1710, when permanent “hospital schools” were opened. Dentists were trained by apprenticeship with foreign dentists. From the middle of the 18th century, those wishing to practice dentistry had to pass a special exam and receive a permit.
In 1868, only 3 dentists practiced privately in Kharkiv (for a population of 60 thousand), and in 1912 – 7 (with a population of 240 thousand people).
In 1891, the law “On Reforming the Teaching of Dental Art” was issued, which legalized dental schools and legalized the title of dentist. Dental schools were opened only in university cities. The training lasted 2.5 years and included a mandatory exam at the medical faculty of the university. Systematic education for dental technicians was carried out at the level of apprenticeship and was equated to jewelry making.
In 1898, a private dental school of Dr. Nemirovsky began operating in Kharkiv. Another school in the city was opened on September 1, 1900 by Dr. V.Ya. Dubrovsky.
After the revolutionary events of 1917, two private Kharkov dental schools, P.P. Kryvopuskov and S. Zelensky, were merged into one state Kharkov dental school. The school was headed by an outstanding enthusiast of systematic training of dentists, Efim Mikhailovich Gofung.
At the end of 1920, during the reform of dental education (odontological departments were created at the medical faculties of State Universities), the Kharkov dental school was closed, and its inventory was nationalized.
In 1927, the People’s Commissariat of Health of Ukraine made a decision to open dental schools, including in Kharkov. And only in 1936, the Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR “On the Training of Secondary Medical Dental and Pharmaceutical Personnel” laid the foundation for the revival of systematic training of secondary medical personnel for dentistry.
The Kharkiv Dental School was opened in 1937. Its founders are rightfully considered to be Yu.M. Gofung, Ya.L. Fridman, and A.E. Rofe.
The first director of the Kharkiv Dental School was the leading dentist of Kharkiv, Candidate of Medical Sciences Tarnopolsky A.I. (1937-40). In the first year, 91 students were accepted to study at the school. From 1937 to 1941, the school trained 120 dentists.
The school did not have its own building and was forced to rent premises.
During the years of the occupation of Kharkiv, the dental school did not work. Immediately after the liberation of the city, in October 1943, the educational institution resumed its work, temporarily located in the premises of the Kharkiv Medical Assistant and Midwifery School at 27 Pushkinska Street.
The Kharkiv College of Medical Equipment was founded in 1931, according to the Resolution of the People’s Commissariat of Health of Ukraine, as the Kharkiv X-ray Technical School on the basis of the Ukrainian X-ray Institute (established in 1920). The first director of the technical school was B.M. Varshavsky.
The school had 40 students. The college trained mid-level specialists for healthcare institutions. By 1941, the Kharkiv Radiology College had trained 492 radiology specialists. Graduates of the school worked not only in Ukraine, but also far beyond its borders. In October 1941, due to the temporary occupation of the city of Kharkiv, the college ceased its activities.
In September 1941, the Kharkiv Paramedic School conducted an urgent graduation – 117 paramedics, who immediately left for the front. Due to the approach of the front, the activities of the school were suspended. During the years of occupation, the premises and property of the Kharkiv Paramedic School, as well as the entire hospital complex at Saburova dacha, were looted and destroyed.
On August 23, 1943, the city of Kharkiv was liberated. It was impossible to resume the activities of the Kharkiv Paramedic School at its former location. A new period in the history of the educational institution begins – the school receives premises in the central district of the city. At Pushkinska Street, 27 (now G. Skovoroda) in the pre-war years, the Kharkiv Paramedic School No. 2 operated. During the years of occupation, the school staff managed to preserve a significant part of the educational and material equipment, which made it possible on September 1, 1943, a week after the liberation of the city, to resume the activities of the united paramedic schools under the name – Kharkiv Paramedic School.
Initially, training was conducted only at the paramedic and pharmaceutical departments. The Kharkiv Dental School also resumed its activities in the same building. Soon the list of specialties expanded: medical laboratory assistants and paramedics-midwives were added. In 1945/1946, 579 students are already studying at the medical assistant and midwifery school. In 1947, the training of medical assistants begins.
In 1944, the Kharkiv X-ray technical school began operating again.
In 1946, one of the best premises in the city was transferred to the Kharkiv medical assistant and midwifery school – the building of the former Oleksandrivsky shelter for beggar children (built in 1891 by the Kharkiv Charitable Society according to the design of architect S.I. Zagoskin), at 3 Revolution Street (now 3 Kulykivskyi Uzviz). The Kharkiv Dental School also operated at this address for some time.
In 1946, the Kharkiv Dental School received a small room at 4 Rybnaya Street (now Kooperativna Street). In August 1947, the school moved to a new address: there were 9 rooms and a recreation area. In 1949, a sanitary and hygienic unit, a room for household supplies, and a plastering room were completed. In the basement, a room for a dental laboratory was renovated.
In 1954, the Kharkiv Medical Assistant and Obstetrician School and the Kharkiv Dental School changed their names to Medical Schools No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Kharkiv Basic Medical School No. 1 during this period was a leading educational institution not only in its region, but also in Ukraine. The basic educational institution holds regional scientific and methodological conferences on topical issues of training medical specialists. Republican and all-Union meetings and conferences were repeatedly organized on the basis of the medical school (1955, 1967, 1975).
In 1966, Evdokia Ilyivna Taranska graduated from Kharkiv Basic Medical School No. 1 and was awarded the highest award of the International Red Cross Society – the Florence Nightingale Medal (in 1997).
The Kharkiv X-ray Technical School changes the profile of training specialists and begins to produce X-ray technicians in the installation, repair and operation of X-ray, electromedical and radiological equipment, and since 1972 a new specialty is introduced at the technical school – “Medical Optics”. In 1965, the Kharkiv X-ray Technical School was renamed the Kharkiv X-ray and Electrotechnical Medical Technical School.
In 1975, the Kharkiv X-ray and Electrotechnical Medical College was renamed the Kharkiv Medical Equipment College.
In 1978, a new specialty was introduced at the college – “Production and Operation of Radioelectronic Medical Equipment”, and since 1986 it has been combined with the specialty “Installation and Repair of X-ray and Electronic Medical Equipment”.
At this time, Kharkiv Medical College No. 2 trains nurses and dental technicians. In 1954, an evening department for the training of paramedics was opened. In 1955, due to the urgent need, Kharkiv Medical College No. 2 resumes the training of dentists.
In 1962, the educational institution moves to a newly built building at the address: Stadionny Proezd, 10.
In the 1990s, the Kharkiv Medical School No. 2 and the Kharkiv College of Medical Equipment began training foreign students.
In 1996, the Kharkiv Medical School No. 2 began training young people with hearing impairments in the specialty of “dental technician”, and in 1999 – training young people with visual impairments in the specialty of “nurse-masseur”.
Since 1999, Ukraine has been holding professional skill competitions “Aesculapius” in the specialty of “nurse”. Students of the Kharkiv Medical School No. 2 – Medical College No. 2 have repeatedly won prizes: Anna Berezina – 3rd place (2004), Natalia Pashkova – 1st place (2006), Natalia Shchegulna – 1st place (2008), Olga Veretennikova – 3rd place (2009), Yulia Makogon – 1st place (2010).
Winners of the All-Ukrainian Competition of Professional Skills for Students in the Specialty “Nursing”: Natalia Pashkova (2006), Natalia Shchegulna (2008), Yulia Makogon (2010)
In 2002, Kharkiv Medical School No. 2 began training in a new specialty, “dentistry” (dentist assistant).
Teachers of Kharkiv Basic Medical School No. 1 V.S. Ronin, G.M. Starobinets, N.L. Utevsky, O.M. Onishchenko (director), V.I. Saveliev, M.V. Zolotnytsky, K.S. Plotnikova, L.V. Lyulenko, G.I. Ivanytska, S.G. Panibrattseva, L.P. Olkhovska, T.O. Kudryavtseva prepared textbooks for training in the specialties “laboratory diagnostics”, “medical and preventive care”, “medical care” and “nursing”.
In 2005, Kharkiv Basic Medical School No. 1, Kharkiv Medical School No. 2 and Kharkiv Medical Equipment College received the status of colleges.
By the 160th anniversary of the educational institution, the Cultural and Educational Center “Museum of the History of Kharkiv Basic Medical College No. 1” was opened, which in 2006 became a Diploma Winner of the regional competition “Higher School of the Kharkiv Region – Best Names”.
Cultural and Educational Center “Museum of the History of the Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College”
In 2006, Kharkiv Basic Medical College No. 1 began training bachelor’s nurses, and later also bachelor’s medical laboratory technicians.
In 2008-2017, All-Ukrainian competitions of professional skills of students of higher medical educational institutions of I-II levels of accreditation in the specialty “Laboratory diagnostics” were held on the basis of Kharkiv Basic Medical College No. 1 – Kharkiv Regional Medical College, in which the following students of the educational institution won: Avramenko Yana (2008), Svystun Elizaveta (2009), Tretyakova Anna (2010), Lozhko Natalia (2011), Shandra Alena and Shykov Konstantin (2013), Rudyashko Natalia (2017).
Winners of the All-Ukrainian Student Competition in the specialty “Laboratory Diagnostics” Avramenko Yana (2008), Svystun Elizaveta (2009), Lozhko Natalia (2011)
Vovchansk Medical College was founded in 1930.
In December 2023, by the decision of the Kharkiv Regional Council, the Vovchansky Medical College, which is located in the zone of active hostilities, was annexed to the Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College. The educational institution was established in July 1930 as the Vovchansky Medical College. Initially, 60 future nurses studied there.
In 1934, the college changed its name to the Medical Assistant and Midwifery School, from which four groups of highly qualified midwives and medical assistants graduated.
During the war, the school was closed and only in 1946 did the first intake of 126 people take place.
Thus, in 1948, the first post-war graduation took place. 57 nurses received medical education.
In order to improve secondary specialized medical education, in 1954 the Vovchansk Medical Assistant and Midwifery School was reorganized into a medical school. In 2005, the educational institution received the status of a college.
In the conditions of full-scale invasion and martial law, Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College continues to train medical specialists at a high scientific, pedagogical and methodological level in the following specialties: nursing, medical care, obstetrics and orthopedic dentistry, qualification – dental technician. Many graduates of the college selflessly fulfill their professional duty, rescuing wounded soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civilians, students are engaged in volunteer activities in hospitals and clinics. Teachers and students of the educational institution take an active part in International and All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conferences, seminars and competitions.
Graduates of the Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College work both in Ukraine and abroad, and it can be said without exaggeration, all over the world.
Among them are doctors and candidates of sciences, academicians, honored doctors of Ukraine, heads of medical institutions, specialized enterprises of “Medtechnika”, teachers of higher educational institutions, doctors, nurses, laboratory assistants, midwives, dental technicians, paramedics.
Our educational institution confidently looks to the future and continues the achievements of previous generations of teachers, students, and graduates of the educational institution.
Prepared by
Head of the Cultural and Educational Center
“Museum of the History of the Kharkiv Regional Medical Professional College”
Teacher Oleksandr DIDENKO