President Luis Abinader has appointed Miguel Ceara Hatton as the new Superintendent of Health and Labor Risks, according to Decree 489-24. He replaces Jesús Feris Iglesias, who resigned on 22 August 2024.
The role of the superintendent is to ensure the population’s protection through health insurance and occupational risk coverage under conditions of quality, equity, and sustainability, acting on behalf of the Dominican state in regulation, supervision, conciliation, and arbitration, as well as in the formulation of technical proposals. Ceara Hatton will hold the position at a time when there is much demand for reforms to the social security law that has been deemed as heavily slanted in favor of big business in comparison to the medical community and patients.
Before his appointment, Miguel Ceara Hatton had been the country’s Minister of Environment (8 July 2022 to 16 August 2024). He had been named to the position after the tragic death of the Minister of Environment, two years into his term. Ceara Hatton had previously been Abinader’s first Minister of Economy (16 August 2020 to 7 July 2022).
Ceara Hatton previously had coordinated the National Human Development Office at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and was responsible for the National Human Development Report from 2002 to 2010. Ceara Hatton also served as the director of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a commercial advisor to the Foreign Minister with ambassadorial rank from 2002 to 2003.
A Dominican economist, Ceara Hatton’s professional interests include macroeconomics, economic development, economic theory, public policies, and international economics. He holds degrees in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), with specializations in Development and Econometrics.
From 2011 to 2020, Ceara Hatton was a professor and researcher at the Jose Luis Aleman Center for Economic and Social Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher (PUCMM). His primary research focus has been Dominican economic development, and he has worked as an economic consultant for international organizations and the private sector.
Between 1996 and 2001, he directed the economic sector at the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) based in Trinidad and Tobago, overseeing trade, tourism and cooperation. He was the director of the Economic Research Center for the Caribbean (Cieca) from 1987 to 1996, based in Santo Domingo.
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Presidency
2 September 2024