On September 20, a postage stamp dedicated to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Nikolai Semashko, a physician and a statesman, was put into postal circulation

Nikolai Semashko (1874-1949) was a Soviet party and state leader, a physician, and one of the initiators of the health care system in the USSR (often referred to as the Semashko model or system). He was an Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (1944) and of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR (1945).

Nikolai Semashko was born on September 8 (20) of 1874 in the Yeletsk Uyezd of the Orel Province (currently the Lipetsk Region). In 1891, he graduated from the Yeletsk men's gymnasium and entered the Faculty of Medicine of the Moscow University. In 1901, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Kazan University and worked as a doctor in the Orel and Samara Provinces.

After the October Revolution, N. Semashko was the Head of the Medical and Sanitary Department of the Moscow City Council. Under his leadership, work was under way to combat epidemics and the foundations of Soviet health care system were laid down; he established systems of maternal and infant health care, child and adolescent health care, and a network of medical research institutes.

In 1921-1949 Semashko was a Professor, the Head of the Department of Social Hygiene of the Faculty of Medicine at the Moscow University (since 1930, it is the 1st Moscow Medical Institute). From July 11 of 1918 to January 25 of 1930, he was a People's Commissar of Healthcare of the RSFSR. On N. Semashko's initiative, on July 26 of 1930, the State Central Institute of Public Dining of the People's Commissariat of Healthcare of the RSFSR was established (presently the Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences). It was meant to provide methodological guidance for nutrition research throughout the country.

In 1945-1949, N. Semashko was the Director of the Institute of School Hygiene of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR and, at the same time, of the Institute of Health Care Organization and History of Medicine of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR (since 1965, the N.A. Semashko National Research Institute of Social Hygiene and Health Care Organization).

N. Semashko was the pioneer of the establishment of the Central Medical Library and the House of Scientists in Moscow. In 1927-1936, he was the editor-in-chief of the Great Medical Encyclopedia. Semashko was the first Chairman of the Supreme Council for Physical Culture and Sport (1923), the Chairman of the All-Union Hygienic Society (1940-1949).

The postage stamp provides a portrait of Nikolai Semashko against the background of a rack of books, as well as the emblem of medicine - the Hygeia vessel.

In addition to the issue of the postage stamp, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow and Yelets of the Lipetsk Region.


Artist: D. Musikhina-Belova; Design: A. Povarikhin.
Face value: 72 rubles.
Stamp size: 37×37 mm, sheet size: 131×137 mm.
Emission form: a sheet with formatted margins with 9 (3×3) stamps.
Quantity: 72 thousand stamps (8 thousand sheets).

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