More than a week after the controversial surgery of the mother of Health Minister Ximena Aguilera, none of those involved have come forward. Neither the Secretary of State nor the management of the Hospital del Salvador, who have chosen to avoid a clear and in-depth response to what happened.
Without going any further, a press release from the director of the health center located in Providencia was planned for this noon. But the journalists who were stationed outside had to settle for a written statement that prevented them from raising any questions: at the same time that the conference was scheduled, from the venue they simply limited themselves to indicating that everything had been a misunderstanding.
The lack of answers has only increased suspicions about a procedure that —according to numerous sources consulted by the Bío Bío Investigation Unit— it did comply with the protocols.
“As they are going with the bandit’s story, one tends to suspect that there is something more behind it,” says one of the respondents familiar with the matter.
“There was no requirement”
The discord surgery took place on the afternoon of December 23, 2025. In La Moneda they maintain that Minister Aguilera was in the middle of the inauguration of the San Antonio Hospital when she learned that her mother had suffered a fall and that she had been rushed to the Hospital del Salvador.
According to Palace sources, it was an advisor who received the call with the information, while the Secretary of State gave the protocol speech after a tour of the facilities of the new medical center. Once her speech was over, the minister was informed of what had happened and headed – around 2:00 p.m. – to the capital.
—She arrived at the hospital when her mother was already undergoing surgery—says a source close to Aguilera.
Once at the hospital – they say they are experts in the matter – Aguilera was received by the deputy director, María Elena Sepúlveda. The professional corresponds to the deputy director of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Support of the facility. He was in charge of the medical center because the head of the establishment, Jorge Zajjur Castro, was on vacation. She, in turn, is the mother of the National Renovation deputy, Diego Schalper Sepúlveda.
“There was no request from the minister to prioritize her mother’s operation,” they say in Aguilera’s circle.
This version coincides with that of hospital officials, who denied any phone call from the minister. The same respondents, however, could not confirm or rule out, with certainty, whether portfolio advisors could have influenced the decision.
Neither Sepúlveda nor Zajjur responded to the inquiries of this Investigation Unit.
The decision about the doctor
According to information collected by Bío Bío Investiga, the decision to operate on December 23 fell directly on the doctor Ángel Bravo Palomera. This is the traumatologist who treated the minister’s mother that day. Just as the hospital and the government have tried to explain, those around the doctor also affirm that the reasons for performing the surgery were purely clinical. It corresponded, they say, to a patient who was seriously ill and who had to undergo the surgical procedure no matter what.
Those who know the operation of the hospital inside out explain that it has two types of pavilions: the Emergency Room and the Residence Room. The first is intended—as its name suggests—for patients who arrive at the facility with a clinical emergency. The second, meanwhile, is focused on trauma concerns or patients already hospitalized. Both work 24/7 and do not have a schedule: rather, they respond to the severity of each of the patients.
It was precisely in the Residence pavilion where the minister’s mother underwent the procedure. According to the La Tercera article that uncovered the case, the hospital management allowed the patient to be sent to that room without having all the necessary documentation.
“By authorization from the hospital management, the patient is sent to the ward (pavilion) without providing administrative papers and without medication,” reads a document cited by the capital’s media.
And although until now it is unknown who granted this authorization, medical sources maintain that it is something normal in facilities of these characteristics.
—It’s more than common. Now all that information is online, so it’s not something that’s a priority. —says one of those consulted.
Along these lines, they add that it is a hospital used to treating patients of high public connotation:
—Just because they are known, we are not going to serve them or give them privileged treatment.
Required by this Investigation Unit, traumatologist Ángel Bravo declined to issue a statement and requested that queries be referred to the hospital’s communications area.
Pass of account
Despite the uproar that broke out after the procedure, outside the microphone there are many voices inside the hospital that see what happened as a political operation. Of course, the hypotheses behind this are varied and even contradictory. There are those who maintain that it is a disgrace to Minister Aguilera herself. Others assert that they sought to strike a blow against the director(s) of the hospital, the aforementioned mother of Deputy Schalper, María Elena Sepúlveda.
Be that as it may, the truth is that the opposition has already threatened to file a constitutional accusation if Minister Aguilera does not step aside. In parallel, lawyer Raimundo Palamara filed a criminal complaint to investigate the case.
All this while in La Moneda they have shielded the Secretary of State. The idea of the Executive – say Palace tenants – is to keep her in her position no matter what until the end of President Gabriel Boric’s term.