[Medicine in the contemporary world]

The author begins with the premise that, contrary to what has been attained to date, greater order and higher justice are both possible and desirable in medical care and, therefore, that it is worthwhile to consider the shortcomings of the past and present and the improvements that can be carried out in the future. He analyzes the various meanings given to the "health-sickness" complex and such current social phenomena as the rapid spread of the view that health care is a social right, the charge against medical practice and training of being dominated by "simplistic empiricism" and of relegating the importance of of the critical faculty, and widespread specialization. He expands on the accessibility of medical care to broad segments on the population, the delegation in modern society of the responsibility for health care to the institutional medical apparatus, and the contradictions generated by overemphasis on technology and specialization and by the pressure of demands from the community. He contends that the dilemma today es twofold: how to offer the entire population satisfactory medical services through comprehensive system consistent with national financial capabilities, and what these services should be so that their social function is based on sound scientific foundations. In the closing section of the article, the author makes several points about the future, with emphasis on humanizing medicine and of basic care services of the population--that is, on shifting medical practice toward the general community.