The Ministry of Health of Chile (Spanish: Ministerio de Salud de Chile), also known as MINSAL, is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing the public health policies formulated by the President of Chile. Notably, all employees pay 7% of their monthly income to FONASA, the funding branch of the Chilean Ministry of Health.
The present Minister of Health is Jaime Mañalich. The minister has two adjunts: the Undersecretary of Public Health (Spanish: Subsecretaria de Salud Pública), currently Liliana Jadue, and the Undersecretary of Assistance Networks (Spanish: Subsecretario de Redes Asistenciales), currently Luis Castillo.
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In 1808, the Committee of Vaccines (Spanish: Junta de Vacunas) was founded, and then in 1832 the Board of Directors of Hospitals (Spanish: Junta Directiva de Hospitales) began operations. Both organizations were precursors of what would become the modern institutions of public health. In 1907, a division charged with the administration of public hygiene was created under the Ministry of the Interior (Spanish: Ministerio del Interior). Then on October 14, 1924, this division was made into the cabinet-level Ministry of Hygiene, Social Assistance and Welfare (Spanish: Ministerio de Higiene, Asistencia y Previsión Social), with the same function (Decree No. 44, 1924). In 1927 all the ministries underwent an important restructuring; with these change it became the Ministry of Social Welfare (Spanish: Ministerio de Bienestar Social), and was charged with, as well as the coordination of public health policies, the investigation of the application of laws relating to society, public welfare, and social security.
In 1932, it was once again renamed, becoming the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish: Ministerio de Salubridad Pública), then the Ministry of Public Health, Social Assistance and Welfare (Spanish: Ministerio de Salubridad Pública, Asistencia y Previsión Social) in 1936, and later the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (Spanish: Ministerio de Salud Pública y Previsión Social) in 1953.
In 1959, the ministry was divided into the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish: Ministerio de Salud Pública), the modern form of the ministry, and, assuming the functions regulating the welfare of Chileans, the Ministry of Work and Social Welfare (Spanish: Ministerio del Trabajo y Previsión Social).
Finally, from 1973 to 1979, the internal structure of the ministry, now simply the Ministry of Health, was reorganized, creating services such as the National Health Fund (Spanish: Fondo Nacional de Salud), or FONASA.
Currently under the Ministry are the following public institutions:
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Alejandro del Río Soto-Aguilar | October 17, 1924 | January 23, 1925 | September Junta | ||
| José Santos Salas Morales | January 29, 1925 | October 10, 1925 | Appointed by | January Junta | |
| Reappointed by | Luis Barros Borgoño | ||||
| Pedro Lautaro Ferrer Rodríguez | October 10, 1925 | December 23, 1925 | |||
| Lucio Córdoba Labarca | December 23, 1925 | November 20, 1926 | Emiliano Figueroa | ||
| Manuel Rivas Vicuña | November 20, 1926 | February 22, 1927 | Minister of the Interior | ||
| Isaac Hevia Concha | February 22, 1927 | May 23, 1927 | |||
| José Santos Salas Morales | May 23, 1927 | November 17, 1927 | Carlos Ibáñez del Campo |
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Enrique Balmaceda Toro | November 17, 1927 | April 20, 1928 | Interim | Carlos Ibáñez del Campo | |
| Alejandro Lazo | April 20, 1928 | June 6, 1928 | |||
| Luis Schmidt | June 6, 1928 | June 21, 1928 | Interim | ||
| Luis Carvajal Laurnaga | June 21, 1928 | August 5, 1930 | |||
| Humberto Arce | August 5, 1930 | September 5, 1930 | |||
| Ricardo Puelma Laval | September 5, 1930 | July 13, 1931 | |||
| Juan Esteban Montero Rodríguez | July 13, 1931 | July 22, 1931 | Minister of the Interior and Social Welfare | ||
| Héctor Boccardo Benvenuto | July 22, 1931 | July 22, 1931 | |||
| Sótero del Río Gundián | July 26, 1931 | September 3, 1931 | Appointed by | Pedro Opazo | |
| Reappointed by | Juan Esteban Montero | ||||
| Santiago Wilson Barrientos | September 3, 1931 | November 15, 1931 | Manuel Trucco | ||
| Sótero del Río Gundián | November 15, 1931 | June 4, 1932 | Juan Esteban Montero |
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Oscar Cifuentes Solar | June 5, 1932 | June 17, 1932 | Appointed by | Socialist Junta | |
| Reappointed by | Carlos Dávila | ||||
| Alfonso Quijano Olivares | June 17, 1932 | October 4, 1932 | |||
| Javier Castro Oliveira | October 4, 1932 | December 24, 1932 | Abraham Oyanedel | ||
| Horacio Hevia Labbé | December 24, 1932 | May 7, 1933 | Minister of the Interior and Public Health | Arturo Alessandri | |
| Alfredo Piwonka Jilabert | May 7, 1933 | April 19, 1934 | Minister of the Interior and Public Health | ||
| Luis Salas Romo | April 19, 1934 | August 26, 1935 | Minister of the Interior and Public Health | ||
| Javier Castro Oliveira | August 26, 1935 | January 15, 1937 |
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Eduardo Cruz-Coke Lassabe | January 15, 1937 | September 15, 1938 | Arturo Alessandri | ||
| Luis Prúnes Rissetti | September 15, 1938 | December 24, 1938 | |||
| Miguel Etchebarne Rioll | December 24, 1938 | December 25, 1939 | Pedro Aguirre Cerda | ||
| Salvador Allende Gossens | December 25, 1939 | April 2, 1942 | |||
| Eduardo Escudero Forrastal | April 2, 1942 | August 15, 1942 | Juan Antonio Rios | ||
| Miguel Etchebarne Rioll | August 15, 1942 | February 4, 1943 | |||
| Jerónimo Méndez Arancibia | February 4, 1943 | June 7, 1943 | |||
| Sótero del Río Gundián | June 7, 1943 | February 3, 1946 | |||
| Juan Garafulic Dubracic | February 3, 1946 | September 6, 1946 | |||
| René García Valenzuela | September 6, 1946 | November 3, 1946 | |||
| Fernando Claro Salas | November 3, 1946 | April 16, 1947 | Gabriel González Videla | ||
| Manuel Sanhueza Morales | April 16, 1947 | August 2, 1947 | |||
| José Santos Salas Morales | August 2, 1947 | July 7, 1948 | |||
| Guillermo Varas Contreras | July 7, 1948 | February 7, 1950 | |||
| Manuel Aguirre Geisse | February 7, 1950 | February 27, 1950 | |||
| Jorge Mardones Restat | February 27, 1950 | July 22, 1952 | |||
| Sótero del Río Gundián | July 22, 1952 | November 3, 1952 | |||
| Waldemar Coutts Billiviller | November 3, 1952 | April 1, 1953 | Carlos Ibáñez del Campo |
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Eugenio Suárez Orrego | April 1, 1953 | March 1, 1954 | Carlos Ibáñez del Campo | ||
| Carlos Vasallo Rojas | March 1, 1954 | June 5, 1954 | |||
| Sergio Altamirano Pinto | June 5, 1954 | January 6, 1955 | |||
| Jorge Aravena Carrasco | January 6, 1955 | May 30, 1955 | |||
| Raúl Barrios Ortiz | May 30, 1955 | July 4, 1956 | |||
| Alberto Araya Lampe | July 4, 1956 | August 27, 1956 | |||
| Roberto Muñoz Urrutia | August 27, 1956 | July 18, 1957 | |||
| Jorge Torreblanca Droguett | July 18, 1957 | November 3, 1958 | |||
| Eduardo Gomién Díaz | November 3, 1958 | October 29, 1959 | Jorge Alessandri |
| Picture | Name | Entered Office | Exited Office | Notes | Appointed by |
| Sótero del Río Gundián | October 29, 1959 | August 26, 1961 | Jorge Alessandri | ||
| Benjamín Cid Quiroz | August 26, 1961 | September 26, 1963 | |||
| Francisco Rojas Villegas | September 26, 1963 | November 3, 1964 | |||
| Ramón Valdivieso Delaunay | November 3, 1964 | November 3, 1970 | Eduardo Frei Montalva | ||
| Oscar Jiménez Pinochet | November 3, 1970 | August 14, 1971 | Salvador Allende | ||
| Juan Carlos Concha Gutiérrez | August 14, 1971 | November 3, 1972 | |||
| Arturo Jirón Vargas | November 3, 1972 | August 28, 1973 | |||
| Mario Lagos Hernández | August 28, 1973 | September 11, 1973 |