Jurgis Alekna

Jurgis Alekna (16 February 1873 – 17 October 1952) was a Lithuanian physician and activist.

Educated at the Imperial Moscow University, he completed his PhD thesis on otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) in Berlin and Vienna in 1910. He worked as a doctor in various locations in Lithuania (Vilnius, Ukmergė, Zarasai, Rozalimas, Kaunas). During World War I, he worked with the Red Cross in the Northern Front. After the war, he was long-term director of the otolaryngology department of Kaunas Red Cross Hospital.

He returned to Lithuania in 1918 and joined the Council of Lithuania. As the first director of the Health Department and vice-minister of the interior, Alekna worked on building a healthcare system in Lithuania. He left the government in March 1919, but continued to be active in Lithuanian public life. He was co-founder of the Lithuanian Red Cross (chairman in 1936–1940), the Medical Society of Kaunas, Scout Association of Lithuania (chief in 1922–1925), and a society to support scouts in Lithuania (chairman in 1919–1924 and 1929–1935).

Biography Russian Empire Alekna was born on in near Kuktiškės in the present-day Utena District Municipality.