Health Department appoints Quesada Varela as Director of Primary Care in Vigo

The Ministry of Health has appointed Víctor Julio Quesada Varela as director of Primary Care for the Vigo Health Area. The decision is formalized in the Order of November 4, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Galicia (DOG) number 218 on Friday, November 13, 2026, section IV (Oppositions and competitions), pages 56953 and 56954, with the official reference CVE-DOG: sveaplp0-ed84-bpm0-eut2-612h1lcfqfn3. The appointment concludes the free designation process opened last October.

The text bears the signature of the Minister of Health, Antonio Gómez Caamaño, and was issued in Santiago de Compostela on November 4, 2026. The order enters into force on the day of its publication in the regional bulletin and exhausts administrative remedies.

A free designation process resolved in five weeks

The original call was the Order of October 6, 2026, published in DOG number 196 on October 15, which opened the provision through the free designation system of a management position in the Vigo area. The regulation was based on article 121 of Law 8/2008, of July 10, on health in Galicia, modified by Law 1/2018, of April 2, article 4.1.1 of Decree 134/2019, of October 10, on health areas and districts, and articles 59 and 60 of Decree 206/2005, of July 22, on the provision of statutory personnel positions of the Galician Health Service.

Annex I of that call specified the requirements for the position:

• Designation: director of Primary Care.
• Qualification: graduate, licensee, or health diploma or equivalent according to the European Higher Education Area.
• Location: Vigo.
• Deadline for submitting applications: ten business days from the day following publication.
• Documentation: standardized model of annex II, curriculum vitae, and record of merits in the electronic file Fides/expedient-e, with accreditation before a validation unit.

The call could be resolved by declaring the position vacant, a circumstance that ultimately did not occur.

Administrative link and objective-linked remuneration

According to articles 59 and 60 of Decree 206/2005, the link of the selected person is formalized in an appointment of an administrative nature when it concerns statutory personnel or civil servants with a permanent link to any public administration. Outside of these cases, the link may be articulated through a senior management employment contract.

Regarding the economic conditions, the call established that fixed remuneration will be those corresponding according to current regulations on the preparation of payrolls for personnel of the regional Administration. The variable part depends on the fulfillment of the objectives previously agreed upon for each management position with the competent bodies of the Galician Health Service.

Two months to appeal before the courts

This order exhausts the administrative route, therefore a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed against it within two months from the day following its publication, before the competent contentious-administrative court, in accordance with articles 8, 14, and 46 of Law 29/1998, of July 13. Optionally and previously, a request for reversal (recurso de reposición) may be presented before the governing body itself within one month, according to articles 123 and 124 of Law 39/2015, of October 1.

Renewal of the management team of the Vigo area

The appointment adds to other recent movements in the management of the Vigo Health Area. The Order of September 8, 2026, published in DOG number 178 on September 18, resolved another two management positions in the same area:

• Ernesto Tapia García, director of Economic Resources.
• María Cristina Martín Fragueiro, sub-director of the Economic Resources Area.

Added to this process is the call published in DOG number 215 on November 10, corresponding to the Order of October 28, 2026, to fill by free appointment the position of medical sub-director/a of Chronic Care in the same health area. The announcements from the Vigo management are signed by the manager Francisco Javier Puente Prieto.

The direction of Primary Care is a decisive position in the healthcare organization: it manages the portfolio of proximity services, the network of health centers, and the management of the healthcare personnel who attend to the citizenry daily. With the appointment published today, the Ministry of Health fills one of the management vacancies in the Vigo area within a context of renewal of its management team.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia, no. 218, November 13, 2026, IV. Oppositions and competitions, pp. 56953-56954 (official reference: CVE-DOG sveaplp0-ed84-bpm0-eut2-612h1lcfqfn3).