Transformation of Mongolian Hospital in the 20th Century : From temple sutras to doctor’s diagnosis－

The purpose of this study is to identify the particularities of Mongolian hospitals through the examination of the evolution of the 20th-century Mongolian medical system. This paper analyzes how the acceptance of medical knowledge, which lies at the forefront of social structure and change, manifested in Mongolian society during the 20th century. Through this analysis, it explores the imports and assimilation of medical knowledge in Mongolia, the changes in medical education, and the resulting shifts in the gender and status of medical personnel, while discussing the characteristics of public health and hygiene transformations related to legislation in each period. Furthermore, the study analyzes the impact of these changes in the medical knowledge system and healthcare space on contemporary Mongolian healthcare and medical professionals. The discussion of changes in the 20th-century Mongolian healthcare space is primarily based on statistics from the socialist era, historical texts, memoirs of contemporary party officials, yearbooks related to the People’s Revolutionary Party, and documents from the Mongolian State Archives. In the early 20th century, the healthcare space recognized by the Mongolian populace was unequivocally represented by Buddhist monasteries, specifically by the Manbadatsng. The first Western-style hospital was established in Ulaanbaatar in 1925, and with the abolition of Manbadatsng across Mongolia in 1937, Western-style hospitals heavily influenced by Russia were rapidly established. From 1959 onward, general hospitals were built across all aimags, and district referral hospitals were also established in five Sum(sub-districts). Following the transition from socialism to democracy in 1990, various private hospitals with diverse specialties emerged in Mongolia. The changes in healthcare space were accompanied by shifts in the composition of medical personnel. The implementation of compulsory and free education from 1924 significantly improved women's literacy and education levels, leading to a rapid increase in the number of specialists in the 1940s. By the 1970s, a remarkable phenomenon emerged in which over 70% of hospital medical staff were women. This trend can be interpreted as a result of the rising educational levels due to compulsory and free education during the socialist era, wherein female doctors became substantial contributors to the overall development of healthcare in Mongolia. While various factors can be cited regarding the urbanization of traditional nomadic society in the 20th century, a major reason can be interpreted as the existence of hospitals and other key institutional ‘buildings’ at the center of life, which subsequently brought about changes in nomadic lifestyles.