page_title: Ministry of Health (Spain)
section_title: First ministry
hierarchical_section_title: Ministry of Health (Spain) / History / First ministry
caption_attribution_description: Federica Montseny in Barcelona on 1977, in her first visit from exile since 1939.
context_page_description: The Ministry of Health is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for proposing and executing the government policy on health, planning and providing healthcare as well as the exercise of the powers of the General State Administration to assure citizens the right to health protection. The Ministry is headquartered in the Paseo del Prado in Madrid, opposite the Prado Museum.
  The healthcare in Spain is provided by the National Health System, a decentralized organization composed by the regional health systems and the National Institute of Health Management, the health agency of the central government that provides health care to the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla.
  The Ministry is headed by the Minister of Health, who is appointed by the King of Spain at request of the Prime Minister, after hearing the Council of Ministers. The Minister is assisted by three main officials, the Secretary of State for Health, the Secretary-General for Digital Health, Information and Innovation of the National Health System and the Under Secretary of Health. The current Health Minister is Salvador Illa.
context_section_description: State powers in this area remained with this department until 1933, when the Undersecretariat for Health and Charity was transferred to the Ministry of Labour, which then became known as the Ministry of Labour and Health. However, the first ministry focused on health was created on 4 November 1936, as the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance, with a woman holding a cabinet portfolio for the first time in the history of Spain: Federica Montseny. This ministry was short-lived. When the Prime Minister of the Republic, Juan Negrín, replaced Francisco Largo Caballero, the ministry was abolished and its powers were transferred to the Ministry of Labour (Social Assistance affairs) and to the Ministry of Public Instruction (Health affairs) by a Decree of May 1937. After the Spanish Civil War, the responsibility returned to the Ministry of the Interior until 1977.
caption: Federica Montseny, first minister and first woman to hold the office.
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