Barthold Rudolf Hast

Barthold Rudolf Hast (9 April 1724 – 27 August 1784) was a Finnish physician who played a leading role in the early development of healthcare in 18th-century Finland, then part of the Swedish kingdom. He was the first Finn to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree in Sweden and served for over three decades as provincial physician of Ostrobothnia. Hast was a pioneer of smallpox inoculation and contributed significantly to improving medical access by operating pharmacies in Vaasa an Oulu and establishing medicine stores in several coastal towns. He played a key role in founding a regional hospital in Vaasa, then only the second general hospital in Finland.

Early life and education Rudolf Hast was born in Vaasa, in western Finland. His father, Herman Henrik Hast, was a barber-surgeon from Westphalia who served as a provincial surgeon in the region and as a regimental surgeon in the Ostrobothnian Regiment from 1721 until his death in 1749. He also operated a pharmacy in Vaasa and published a medical handbook titled Kårt underrättelse om några medicamenters bruk wid et hus apoteque (Stockholm, 1746).

Hast received his elementary education at Vaasa trivial school between 1733 and 1739. In addition to his medical training, Hast studied natural sciences under Carl Linnaeus, under whom he defended a scientific dissertation titled in 1745. Linnaeus later honored Hast by naming a moth species, Tortrix hastiana, after him. He completed his medical degree in 1747 with the medical dissertation , supervised by Nils Rosén von Rosenstein, becoming the first Finn to earn a Doctor of Medicine degree in Sweden. Following the death of his father in 1749, he was appointed to the newly created office of provincial physician of Ostrobothnia, based in Vaasa, a position he held until 1783. The post of provincial physician (provinsialläkare) was part of a new administrative structure introduced in Finland after the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–1743, and was initially funded by provincial collections before later becoming state-funded.

Pharmacies and hospital When Hast began his service, Ostrobothnia lacked both a hospital and adequate access to medicine. He took over his late father's pharmacy in Vaasa and later established additional medicine shops in towns such as Oulu, Nykarleby, Kokkola, and Raahe. Formal pharmacies were eventually established in Oulu in 1762 and in Kokkola in 1781. Although surgery was typically performed by barber-surgeons, Hast was a skilled surgeon in his own right, having learned the craft from his father. Known for his conscientious service, he regularly traveled across the province, as required by the 1744 and 1766 provincial physician instructions. His work was supported by barber-surgeons and apprentices, who assisted with both surgical duties and the distribution of medicines. '' in recognition of his service as provincial physician. He was also a member of the Aurora Society in Turku. Hast resigned from his position as provincial physician on 15 September 1783 and died in August 1784. His son, Herman Rudolf Hast, succeeded him as provincial physician in Ostrobothnia, continuing the family tradition into a third generation.