Juan Garafulic
Juan Garafulic Duvrabcic (8 July 1905 – 3 September 1978) was a Chilean politician who served as a minister.
He served as Minister of Public Health and Social Welfare during the administration of President Juan Antonio Ríos and the vice presidencies of Alfredo Duhalde and Vicente Merino Bielich from February to September 1946.
Family and education
He was born in Santiago on 8 July 1905, the son of Croatian immigrants Juan Garafulic and Catalina Drubravcic, both originally from the island of Brač. He completed his primary and secondary education at the Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera.
He then studied at the School of Medicine of the University of Chile, graduating in 1928 with the thesis Vacunoterapia legal en prostatitis y orquitis gonocócica. He later undertook advanced training abroad.
He married Mina García Reyes.
Professional career
Garafulic began his medical career in Santiago, working as a physician at San José Hospital, the schools for children with intellectual and physical disabilities, and the School for the Blind and Deaf. He also served as an assistant at the university's Neurological Clinic.
From 1930, he served as chief physician of the Observation Section of the Casa de Menores de Santiago. Beginning in 1935, he also worked as a physician at the National Psychiatric Hospital and as chief physician of its affiliated pediatric section.
He also taught medicine at the Casa de Menores, the Instituto Central de Perfeccionamiento, the Directorate of Health, the Teachers' Association, the Summer School, and the National Psychiatric Hospital. In 1937, he represented Chile at international congresses on mental hygiene in Paris, France, child psychiatry in the same country, postgraduate medical education in Berlin, Germany, and alcoholism prevention in Warsaw, Poland.
In 1939, he joined the board of Laboratorio Chile and the Welfare Department of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance, during the administration of Pedro Aguirre Cerda. He was one of the founders of the Chilean Association of Mental Hygiene, now the Chilean Society of Mental Health (SChSM). From 1942 to 1962, he served as director of the Child Neuropsychiatry Section of the Manuel Arriarán Children's Hospital.
In connection with his medical career, he was a member of the Chilean Medical Society, the Chilean Pediatric Society, the Society of Neurology, Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, and the Medical Association of Chile. Abroad, he was an honorary member of the Society of Neurology and Psychiatry of Peru and the Medical Society of Paris.
He authored numerous newspaper articles, sociological essays, academic papers, notes, humorous chronicles, and a one-act play. He also translated theatrical and literary works from French into Spanish. From 1942 to 1947, he served as a member of the Film Censorship Board.
For his research on adult and child mental health, he received decorations from the governments of Peru and Yugoslavia.
Political career
A member of the Socialist Party (PS), Garafulic was appointed Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Assistance by Radical president Juan Antonio Ríos on 3 February 1946. He remained in office following Ríos's death, serving under vice presidents Alfredo Duhalde Vásquez and Vicente Merino Bielich, and left the cabinet on 6 September of the same year. During his tenure, he promoted several public health initiatives, including the Tripartite Border Health Agreement between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, which facilitated efforts to combat infectious and parasitic diseases in border areas of the Altiplano.
Later, during the administration of President Gabriel González Videla, he chaired the Chilean delegation to the International Congress of Psychiatry held in Paris, France, in 1950.
Garafulic died in Santiago on 3 September 1978, aged 73. His body lay in state at the Club de la República, and he was buried at the Santiago General Cemetery in the commune of Recoleta.
Works
- Quedamos en eso... (1962)
- El lunes paso sin falta