The medical students contribution during the doctors dispute of 1977

Abstract

It is very difficult to write the history of an event when one has been an active participant. The direct experience of a life-significant event would undoubtedly cloud ones viewpoint. History can only be truly written by individuals who have not participated in the event and whose outlook can be an unbiased view of the facts with a clear knowledge of the subsequent outcomes. I have lived through the doctor's industrial action as a third-year medical student and I have therefore first hand knowledge of many of the facts that I shall relate. I shall endeavour to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and in the process try to avoid as much as possible giving an interpretation of the facts. This I leave for later historians. Two active participants the Hon Secretary of the MAM and the Attorney General - have previously described the events of the industrial strife between the medical profession and the government of the day. These authors have poorly or erroneously described the students' role in the strife.