The origin of the institutionalism of health in Chile and the intense debates which took place within the medical association, constitute the main topic of the text by Carlos Molina. The author offers a critical analysis of contradictions of a profession which began asking itself about the question of the social role of medicine in a time of profound social changes and economic crisis. Physicians, as profesionals and intelectual elites, could not keep themselves away from political struggles, and had to offer answers in front of social crisis. The origin of the vision of the functional aspects of technical-health, which ended with the creation of the SNS (1952) and lasted until 1973, is the result of this intense period of agitation within the different professional associations.Los orígenes de la institucionalidad sanitaria en Chile y los intensos debates que se dieron al interior del gremio médico, constituyen el núcleo central del texto de Carlos Molina. El autor nos ofrece un análisis crítico sobre las contradicciones de una profesión a la que comenzaba a cuestionarse el papel social en una época de profundos cambios sociales y debacle económica. Los médicos, como una élite profesional e intelectual, no pudieron mantenerse al margen de las luchas políticas, y debieron ofrecer respuestas frente a la crisis social. El origen de la visión técnico-sanitaria funcional, que culmina con la formación del SNS(1952), y que perdura hasta 1973, es el fruto de este intenso período de agitación gremial.