The function of medical schools is to educate for the scientific, professional, and research skills absolutely prerequisite for health care. The function of distributing and rendering accessible care at reasonable costs—a concern of all Western societies—is ultimately lodged with communities and their public officials. The two functions, while vitally related, are not identical. Obvious. Note that for the past five years a near-oligarchy of congressional health politicians, following the initial lead of Mr Nixon's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), have pressured and manipulated educational institutions as the major means of solving problems in health care delivery. It is timely to declare that the quality of health care—however it is ultimately distributed and utilized—will be drastically affected unless the politicians cease their long diversionary siege, assaulting the orderly processes necessary for adequate professional education and research.

Most of us sought a sound education and enjoyed or barely endured the experience.