A. Kachan
St Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Study, 14, Vavilovykh Street (Hospital N3), 195257 St Petersburg, Russia
In 1928 P.Charukosky, a physician from Saint Petersburg, applied acupuncture for the first time in Russia. Since 1956 a new stage in the successful development of acupuncture started thanks to professors V.G.Vogralik and I.I.Rusetzky. In 1957 about 20 senior lecturers, professors, scientists and 6 students of medicine were sent to China for 6 months to study Chinese traditional medicine for many years. In 1959 the Ministry of Public Health included acupuncture (reflexotherapy) in the state-run medicine; intensive research has been carried out in scientific centres of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities and extensive practical application has spread in the country. In 1974 systematic post-graduation teaching was started. In 1997 the Ministry of Public Health of the Russian Federation approved a separate medical special field called “reflexotherapy” (acupuncture), and in 1999 it issued regulations for the operation of the reflexotherapy service in Russia (the status of a reflexotherapist, a doctor’s room, the working load, equipment and tools).