List of health ministers of Spain

In the field of public health, the health minister has four main responsibilities:^[2]

1. External health. Under the General Health Law, external health —health control of people and goods at borders—and international health relations and agreements are the exclusive competence of the central government.
2. Pharmaceutical products. The Medicines Law establishes this matter as the exclusive competence of the central government, with the implementation of the legislation generally falling under the competence of the Spanish regions.
3. Basic and general health policy. It is the responsibility of the central government to establish regulations that set the minimum conditions and requirements, pursuing a basic equalization of conditions in the operation of public services.
4. Health coordination. As the main person responsible for the health system, the minister must coordinate the public health administrations, that is, by establishing means and systems of communication that make possible reciprocal information, technical homogeneity in certain aspects and the joint action of the State and regional health authorities in the exercise of their respective powers, in such a way as to achieve the integration of partial acts into the whole of the health system.

For much of Spain's history, health and social services were the responsibility of the Minister of the Interior. During the Second Republic, these responsibilities were combined with the Ministry of Labour, until the socialist Francisco Largo Caballero granted them full autonomy in late 1936, appointing Federica Montseny as minister—the first woman in Spain to hold a ministerial post.^[3] The department lasted only a few months, as prime minister Juan Negrín transferred Health to the Ministry of Public Instruction. Similarly, during dictatorship of Francisco Franco, there was no Minister of Health, as this role was assumed, as before, by the Minister of the Interior.

With the restoration of democracy, prime minister Adolfo Suárez also reinstated the position of Minister of Health, who was also responsible for Social Security. After a brief interruption in 1981, this position was consolidated around two main areas of responsibility: health and consumer affairs. From 2009 onwards, it absorbed other powers such as those related to social services or equality, responsibilities that it has been losing in recent years until it only retained health powers since 2020.

The Civil Order of Health, originally called the Cross of Epidemics, is the most prestigious public distinction in Spain for healthcare merits. Created in 1829,^[4][5] it is intended to recognize individuals and organizations, both national and international, who have performed outstanding or exceptional service in the field of healthcare.^[6]

The Minister of Health is the Grand Chancellor of the Civil Order of Health, who may delegate his powers to the Under-Secretary of Health, who acts as Chancellor of the Order. They are assisted by a Council and a Secretariat—led by the Technical Secretary-General of the Ministry of Health. As grand chancellor, the minister is responsible for convening, representing, and, where appropriate, presiding over the meetings of the council, as well as appointing its members. The minister is also the competent authority to approve, on his or her own initiative, the admission of new members to the Order.^[6]