Dmitrii Zhbankov

Born 1853 in Nizhny Novgorod Province; died July 20, 1932, in Moscow. Russian physician, active inzemstvo (local-government-run) medicine.

Zhbankov graduated from the Medical and Surgical Academy in 1879. He worked as a zemstvo physician in Riazan’ Province and later became director of the bureau of health of the Smolensk zemstvo. He conducted statistical examinations of sanitation in factories and plants and studied the spread of epidemic diseases. In 1904 he became permanent secretary of the N. I. Pirogov Society of Russian Physicians. Zhbankov was the author of many works on the life and living conditions of the peasants, on zemstvo medicine, epidemiology, statistics, and the organization of public health services. He sharply criticized the police regime of tsarist Russia, publicly opposed capital and corporal punishment, exposed the government’s insufficient organization of medical care, and fought for equal rights for women. In 1921 he abandoned his public activity completely. Zhbankov’s works (for example, on seasonal work in Smolensk Province) were often cited by V. I. Lenin, who pointed out at the same time that Zhbankov advocated the ideals of the populist petite bourgeoisie (see Pol’n. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 3., p. 580).