Chile's health minister resigns amid AIDS scandal
(Updates with minister's quote, paragraphs 5-7)
SANTIAGO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Chile's health minister resigned on Tuesday in the wake of an AIDS scandal, a day after the government said President Michelle Bachelet planned a cabinet reshuffle ahead of next year's presidential election.
Maria Soledad Barria tendered her resignation to Bachelet, who accepted while on an official visit to Costa Rica, the government said.
"The president has accepted the resignation of Minister Barria and has designated her deputy, Jeanette Vega, to replace her," Government Minister Francisco Vidal told reporters.
Barria's ministry was rocked this month after it emerged that a hospital in Iquique in far northern Chile failed to notify dozens of patients that they had tested positive for HIV.
Before she quit, Barria removed the head of medicine, the supervising nurse and the head of the blood bank at the hospital pending a probe into possible negligence.
"I am quitting so that we can set aside political accusations that seek to sling mud at a (health) system which is good," Barria told reporters.
"Our nation's institutions cannot be a target for those who seek to make political capital and want to force a government defeat."
Bachelet's center-left coalition government has been battered by protests and scandals in recent months, helping boost its rightist rivals ahead of what is seen as the toughest presidential race since the return to democracy two decades ago. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Bianca Frigiani; Editing by Eric Walsh)
SANTIAGO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Chile's health minister resigned on Tuesday in the wake of an AIDS scandal, a day after the government said President Michelle Bachelet planned a cabinet reshuffle ahead of next year's presidential election.
Maria Soledad Barria tendered her resignation to Bachelet, who accepted while on an official visit to Costa Rica, the government said.
"The president has accepted the resignation of Minister Barria and has designated her deputy, Jeanette Vega, to replace her," Government Minister Francisco Vidal told reporters.
Barria's ministry was rocked this month after it emerged that a hospital in Iquique in far northern Chile failed to notify dozens of patients that they had tested positive for HIV.
Before she quit, Barria removed the head of medicine, the supervising nurse and the head of the blood bank at the hospital pending a probe into possible negligence.
"I am quitting so that we can set aside political accusations that seek to sling mud at a (health) system which is good," Barria told reporters.
"Our nation's institutions cannot be a target for those who seek to make political capital and want to force a government defeat."
Bachelet's center-left coalition government has been battered by protests and scandals in recent months, helping boost its rightist rivals ahead of what is seen as the toughest presidential race since the return to democracy two decades ago. (Reporting by Antonio de la Jara and Bianca Frigiani; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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