Servicio social de médicos, enfermeras y odontólogos en relación con los programas de salud en la Frontera Norte de México

Abstract

In Mexico, social service is defined as temporary work rendered by medical students who have completed their medical studies (pasantes) and similar students in other fields of learning, for the benefit of the public and of the State

This type of service was instituted in 1936 for medical students as a result of an agreement between the Medical School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Department of Public Health and Social Welfare, and the rural communities covered by the plan

By this plan the School of Medicine rounded out the studies of a medical student and repaid society for part of the investment it had made in the training of the future physician; the Department of Public Health and Social Welfare provided communities with good quality preventive and curative services; and the desire and right of many rural communities to receive the benefits of modern medical science was satisfied

The objectives which were established for this type of social service and which continue to be in force are these: to round out academic studies, to provide last-year medical students with an objective knowledge of the health problems of the ocuntry and the procedures which the Department of Health uses to solve them; to promote the development of rural communities through the application of health programs; and to achieve a better distribution of physicians in the country

From 1936 to 19... (AU)