An International Perspective on Strikes and Strike Threats by Physicians: The Case of Chile

Abstract

The program for health services developed by the government of Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens in Chile is outlined, as well as its early effects. A review of this development is necessary to an understanding of the systematic opposition of the organized medical profession to this program in particular, and to the broad socialist goals of the government in general. Three periods of activity by the medical profession are traced, beginning in September 1970 and culminating in September 1973 with the military coup and overthrow of the democratically elected government of Chile and the murder of its president, a physician. While the medical profession was opposed to the government program for community participation in health care and to changes in the models for delivery of care, and feared a changed status for the physician, clearly there were broader political links between the organized medical profession and the political opponents of the government which sought its overthrow.