New Health minister is second surgeon to join the Zeballos cabinet

There are now two surgeons in Premier Vicente Zeballos’s cabinet, and both are women.

The most recent is Maria Hinostroza, sworn in Monday as Health minister, who is a neurosurgeon with postgraduate studies in public health and hospital management, and was health director of the national police force, where she rose to the rank of police general in 2017, the first woman to given that rank.

Hinostroza succeeds Zulema Tomas, who resigned amid allegations of favoritism in appointments, barely six weeks after she joined President Vizcarra’s new cabinet. Tomas denied any wrongdoing and blamed interests that were against her campaign promoting generic medicines.

Hinostroza began her work in the cabinet with a series of meetings Tuesday with the Peruvian Medical Federation and the various health professional guilds.  Hinostroza said meetings would continue, to seek solutions to the state health system’s deficiencies, but that they should prioritize the health of patients.                                                                                  ,

New Social Development and Inclusion minister

In late October, another physician joined the cabinet when Jorge Melendez stepped down as minister of Social Development and Inclusion.  Ariela Luna, a medical surgeon from San Marcos University, is also an anthropologist and a specialist in public health, with 29 years’ experience in the public sector and in development of social projects financed by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.