The government of José Antonio Kast on Wednesday appointed surgeon Ignacio García-Huidobro as the new national director of the Servicio Médico Legal (SML), Chile's forensic medical service. The agency reports to the Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos (Ministry of Justice and Human Rights) and carries out the forensic examinations the judicial system requires.
According to La Tercera, García-Huidobro passed the selection process of the Sistema de Alta Dirección Pública, the mechanism that seeks to fill senior government posts through competitive hiring. According to BioBioChile, the competition opened on June 14 and received 63 applications. Four candidates reached interviews with the Consejo de Alta Dirección Pública (Senior Public Management Council), which then sent a shortlist to the President.
The post had been vacant since April. That month, the Executive dismissed Dr. Marisol Peña, citing a series of shortcomings in the agency's operations.
Justice Minister Fernando Rabat welcomed the appointment. "The Servicio Médico Legal plays a fundamental role for the justice system", he said. He added that the appointment will help improve response capacity, modernize processes and address the institution's infrastructure and management gaps.
García-Huidobro is a surgeon trained at the Universidad Católica, specializing in general surgery according to BioBioChile. He holds an MBA in health from the Universidad Andrés Bello and a postgraduate diploma in Health Management from the Universidad de Santiago.
Since November 2024 he had been director of the Sótero del Río hospital, where he previously held other positions. Between 2019 and 2024 he was general manager of a consortium of private clinics, according to the Ministerio de Justicia.
His best-known role was at the Superintendencia de Salud (Health Superintendency), which he headed from October 2018 during Sebastián Piñera's second government. He lasted only a few months. In April 2019, opposition lawmakers and members of the governing coalition itself questioned a resolution that postponed by two years the automatic reduction in the prices of isapre (private health insurer) plans for some members, among them women and children leaving higher-risk brackets.
The measure was reversed. Days later, García-Huidobro resigned and Piñera accepted the resignation. The Superintendencia attributed his departure to "personal reasons". In his farewell speech, however, he criticized the political world and the government's handling of health, and spoke of "very significant differences".
The Sótero del Río also came under scrutiny. During 2025, an investigative committee of the Cámara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies) reviewed the hospital's management of waiting lists. García-Huidobro appeared as director, although some of the events examined began before he took office in November 2024.
Seven years after leaving the Superintendencia, García-Huidobro once again heads a top-tier public agency. His immediate task will be to modernize the SML and close the infrastructure and management gaps that the government itself identified when it removed his predecessor.
