Chile’s 7,207 State Staff on Medical Leave Went Abroad
GOVERNANCE · CHILE
Key Facts
- —The country Chile pays public employees on sick leave through a licencia médica, a doctor’s order to rest. Leaving the country during it is a possible breach the state now checks every year.
- —What happened On 2 October 2026 the Comptroller General’s Office (Contraloría) said 7,207 public servants travelled abroad while on medical leave in 2025.
- —The numbers The count was 19,963 in 2023 and 19,597 in 2024, so 2025 is 63% lower. Some 566 people travelled on leave in all three years (Contraloría, 2 Oct 2026).
- —What it means for you Employers must open disciplinary cases and files go to prosecutors and regulators. The office calls the licences possibly irregular, so each case still has to be proven.
- —Still open How many cases end in sanctions or repayment is not known. Figures for the armed forces and police in 2025 are still being prepared.
Chile medical leave trips abroad by public employees fell sharply in 2025, but thousands of cases remain. The Comptroller General’s Office (Contraloría, the state audit body) found 7,207 public servants who travelled abroad while on medical leave last year.
The figure comes from report CIC No. 26, published on Friday 2 October 2026. It compares with 19,963 cases in 2023 and 19,597 in 2024, a fall of 63% against both years.
What the Comptroller found
The report analysed exits from the country by public servants while they held a medical licence. The office first ran this check in report CIC No. 9, released on 20 May 2025.
Between 21 May and 31 December 2025, it counted 1,497 possibly irregular licences used for trips abroad. That is 92% fewer than in the same months of 2023 and 90% fewer than in 2024.
The office calls the overall fall “very significant”. It also warns that thousands of trips abroad during medical leave still occur.
A smaller group keeps travelling
The Chile medical leave decline hides a core of repeat cases. According to the report, 4,522 people travelled on medical leave in two of the three years reviewed.
A further 566 did so in all three years, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Cooperativa, the Santiago radio network, also reported the 2025 figures on Friday.
After the May 2025 report, 1,299 public servants still left the country while on leave. Of those, 320 had already been identified in 2023 or 2024.
The Comptroller says this shows “the persistence of a group of officials with repeated behaviour”. The review fulfils a commitment to Congress to repeat the check every year.
Where the files go next
The Contraloría will notify the institutions involved so they open disciplinary proceedings, the release says. It will also send the files to bodies with powers to act.
These are Compin (the health boards that rule on medical licences), the social security regulator Suseso, prosecutors and the State Defence Council (CDE). The CDE represents the state in court, including to recover public money.
A trip abroad during leave is not proof of fraud on its own. The office itself describes the licences as possibly irregular, and each case must be checked.
A scandal with a falling count
Sick-leave abuse became a national issue after the first report in May 2025. It has since reached the judiciary, as covered in Chile’s Top Court Targets Judges in a Sick-Leave Fraud Scandal.
In September the courts went further: Chilean Judges Sacked by Their Own Supreme Court for Going Abroad on Sick Leave. The new figures, however, cover the wider civil service.
They exclude members of the armed forces and police insured through their own health funds, Dipreca and Capredena. An earlier report found 2,982 of them abroad on leave in 2023 and 2024.
For Chile medical leave spending, the trend points in the right direction. The office has not said what drove the fall, but it followed public exposure and closer checks.
What Is Not Yet Known
The release does not say how many of the 7,207 cases will lead to sanctions or repayment. Results of disciplinary action on the 2023 and 2024 lists were not part of it.
The 2025 comparison for the armed forces and police is still being prepared. The Comptroller says it will keep monitoring the issue with regular reviews and reports.
Sources: Contraloría General de la República, press release on report CIC No. 26, 2 October 2026; Cooperativa, “Contraloría: 7.207 empleados públicos viajaron al extranjero con licencia médica en 2025”, 2 October 2026.
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