Ernesto Torres Galdames

Ernesto Torres Galdames (25 March 1892 – 25 July 1965) was a Chilean physician and politician affiliated with the Radical Party and later the Socialist Radical Party. He served as Deputy for the 1st Departamental Group (Arica, Iquique and Pisagua) during the 1933–1937 and 1949–1953 legislative periods.

Biography Torres Galdames was born in Santiago on 25 March 1892, the son of Manuel Segundo Torres Labarca and Beatriz Galdames Cáceres. He married Natalia del Carmen Toro Toro, with whom he had one son.

He completed his early education at the Colegio Alemán, Instituto Moderno, Internado Barros Arana and Liceo Amunátegui. He later studied medicine at the University of Chile, obtaining his medical degree on 16 June 1917 with the thesis “La degeneración leucocitaria en las supuraciones del aparato génito-urinario (signo de Colombino)”.

He pursued postgraduate training at several European institutions, including the Hospital Necker, the Paris School of Medicine, Hospital Lariboisière, Hôtel-Dieu and Hospital Saint Michel. Between 1927 and 1928 he travelled through Europe and the Middle East to perfect his work in urology, gynecology, bone and joint surgery, and hygiene.

In Chile, he completed his internship at the Hospital San Vicente de Paul and at the Posta Nº 2 of the Asistencia Pública. He practiced medicine in Iquique, where he served as hospital physician, military surgeon, public health officer, bay and forensic doctor, and physician for the Sabioncello Nitrate Company, Carabineros de Chile, and the Chilean Petroleum Company (Copec). He presided over the Municipal Sanitation Board that created the Código Long.

Political career A member of the Radical Party since 1917, he joined the Socialist Radical Party in 1933. He chaired the Radical Assembly and the Provincial Board on several occasions and served as delegate to conventions in Valdivia and Viña del Mar. He was Regidor of the Municipality of Iquique in 1919, acting Governor of Pisagua in 1921 and acting Intendant of Tarapacá in 1926.

He was president of the Tarapacá Medical Association and served as a councillor of the Junta de Beneficencia, representing the Senate. He was a member of the Club de la Unión de Iquique, Casino Español, and the Iquique Philharmonic Society.

In August 1972, the Hospital de la Beneficencia de Iquique was renamed Hospital Regional Doctor Ernesto Torres Galdames in his honour.