Today, there are several medical signs. These are variations of the bowl with the snake, and the six-pointed star of life, and the caduceus, and the medical red cross. The last symbol was very popular in the USSR, although then its meaning was not completely interpreted.
Red Cross Symbol: First appearance
Despite the fact that the age of the red cross as a medical sign is about 150 years, this symbol has a more ancient history.
In the XII-XIV centuries in Europe, the Knights Templar and Hospitaller Orders were founded. Their goal was to free the holy city of Jerusalem from the rule of Jews and Muslims. After the city was conquered, many Europeans wanted to see with their own eyes the area where their Lord lived, died and rose again.
However, traveling to Jerusalem was unsafe, as there were many robbers on the roads. In addition, Europeans unaccustomed to the Palestinian climate fell ill with local diseases. To solve these problems, the templar knights who conquered Jerusalem took care of the needs of the pilgrims. The Templar and Hospitaller Orders protected travelers from Europe during the pilgrimage and organized hospitals to help the wounded and sick.
The Templars and hospitals, to be recognized, adorned their outer clothing and shields with signs of the order. Hospitallers with a white cross on black or red backgrounds, and the Templars with a red cross on a white background. Not all the deeds of these knights were worthy, but for most pilgrims they became a symbol of selfless care and protection.
That is why, choosing a sign for the worldwide organization of assistance to victims of hostilities, its creators decided to use the well-known red cross of the templar knights.
How the red cross became a symbol of military medical service
How many people exist, there are wars. After each battle, there are many wounded who can survive with the timely provision of medical care. However, before the military doctors were engaged in the search for the wounded only after the end of the battle, since, without the decals, they risked being killed.
During the war of 1859, many soldiers died in Europe, many of them could have been saved if medical assistance had been provided in time. The Swiss businessman and philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant, who was watching this war, was eager to create an organization to help wounded soldiers.
In 1863, at the initiative of Dunant, an international conference was convened in Geneva, at which the Red Cross International Organization for Assistance to War Victims was established.
The emblem of this organization was the flag of Switzerland (it looked like a symbol of the Order of the Hospitallers). But for practical reasons, the well-known red cross (a symbol of medicine in the USSR) on a white background soon became the logo of the new humanitarian organization.
Gradually, all employees of the field military hospitals began to wear bandages with red crosses, signaling the enemy soldiers that they were just doctors. Thus, it became possible to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield, without waiting for its end.
Red Cross Symbol Meaning
The red cross is not just a beautiful emblem. All four ends of this sign symbolize the important human qualities that members of an organization should equally have.
- The courage to risk one’s own life to help one's neighbor
- Prudence in helping victims so that they do not need to risk their lives once again without need.
- Fair treatment of all those in need, regardless of their social status or race.
- Moderation in work, because in order to help the sick, the physician himself must be healthy.
Red cross and red crescent
In the 70s of the XIX century, the Ottoman Empire and other eastern non-Christian countries became a frequent participant in military conflicts. Their governments allowed the Red Cross to conduct their activities in their territories, in return asking to adapt the organization's symbol for Muslims. Thus appeared the emblem of the scarlet crescent on a white background, which became a symbol of military medical care in Muslim countries. And the organization itself has since become known as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Red cross and other emblems
In the first half of the 20th century, Turkish, Persian and Egyptian authorities turned to the Red Cross with a request to introduce additional distinctive signs: the red lion and the sun. The management of the organization agreed, but soon other states demanded the addition of additional characters. Fearing that the Red Cross would have too many distinctive signs and this would create confusion, the leadership refused to recognize other emblems and eliminated the symbols of the red sun and lion in 1980.
Since the 2000s, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement began to develop a new emblem, and in 2005 the third active symbol of the organization, the scarlet rhombus, was created.
The symbol of the medical red cross in the Russian Empire
The Red Cross organization in the Russian Empire began to operate in 1876 on the basis of the Holy Cross Community of Sisters of Charity. Its members wore a special badge in the form of a red cross with an emblem inside.
With the beginning of the 20th century, all military doctors began to actively use the red cross emblem as a distinctive sign. Nurses who worked in field hospitals or evacuated wounded soldiers directly from the battlefield, instead of a badge, wore an embroidered red cross on an apron, headgear, or shoulder strap.
There was a red medical cross in cars and vans in which the wounded were transported. You could see him on the buildings where the temporary military hospitals were located.
The origin of the sign of medicine in the USSR
After the February and October revolutions, the Red Cross was abolished, and its property was nationalized. However, a few months later this organization was restored in rights.
Throughout the Civil War and in subsequent years, it was the Red Cross that was engaged in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, typhoid and other diseases, and also helped the starving in the 20s. Because of this, the nation’s symbol of organization began to be perceived as a medical cross.
Until 1938, in the USSR, the Red Cross performed the functions of all medical and preventive institutions, until by decree of the Council of People's Commissars all the property of this organization was again seized and given to the official health authorities. Together with numerous hospitals and sanatoriums (including the famous Artek) organized by the Red Cross, a medical cross was also awarded.
From this period he began to play the role of not only a symbol of military field medicine, but also of the entire health care system in the USSR.
With the outbreak of World War II, the USSR Ministry of Health and the Red Cross joined forces to help soldiers at the front and civilians in the rear.
Both of these organizations used a red medical cross as a distinctive sign. As a result, after the victory, this symbol began to be associated with citizens of the USSR with medical care. Since the late 40s, the red cross began to be used on signs and inventory of hospitals, medical posts and pharmacies.
The symbol of the red cross today
After the collapse of the USSR, many CIS countries continued to use the red cross as an emblem of medicine, however, starting from the 2000s, they gradually abandoned this tradition, since it is illegal. The fact is that the scarlet cross mark is the property of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and symbolizes the free provision of medical care, as well as the military field medical service. And most modern hospitals in the CIS operate fully or partially on a commercial basis, which contradicts the principles symbolized by this sign. In addition, the red cross was created as a hallmark of doctors on the battlefield, not intended for use in peacetime.
In this regard, in the CIS today, as a medical symbol, they often use a bowl with a snake or an American star of life. And the military medical service of the Russian Federation, starting in 2005, developed its own emblem with a red cross on a green background and a bowl with a snake in the center.
Today, the red medical cross is gradually becoming a thing of the past as a symbol of healthcare in the CIS. I want to believe that all those principles that he symbolized will remain relevant for healthcare providers in the future.