SANTIAGO, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chile's Health Minister Maria Soledad Barria resigned Tuesday over a scandal in which a hospital in northern Chile had failed to notify 25 people who had tested positive for HIV.

    Presidential spokesman Francisco Vidal said Tuesday that President Michelle Bachelet, currently on an official visit to Costa Rica, had accepted Barria's resignation and designated her deputy, Jeanette Vega, to replace her.

    A TV station reported earlier this month that a hospital in Iquique in northern Chile had failed to inform 25 patients that they had tested positive for HIV, which can cause AIDS. The hospital had hidden the facts from the patients since 2004. Four of them later died due to HIV-related causes, it was revealed two weeks ago.

    It is reported that Barria knew about the situation since early August and sent commissioners to investigate, but it was not until recently that she admitted the incident.

    Barria told reporters that she decided to resign because the incident had seriously effected Chilean people's confidence in the health system and caused severe damage to the government's image.

    She said further investigations were still underway and the government had tracked most of the patients and started treatment on them, but some foreign patients had already left Chile.

    The opposition party and some ruling party legislators had been demanding Barria's resignation for breach of duty.

    Barria is a doctor specialized in nephrology and a member of the Socialist Party. She took office as health minister in March 2006.