National Dermatology Healthcare Network

The National Dermatology Healthcare Network, staffed by a uniquely qualified team of sanitary dermatologists, health inspectors, nurses and social promoters, is the battlefront where leprosy and other endemic skin conditions in the country are fought.

Thirty-one Regional Dermatology Healthcare Services (RDHS) make up the network spread throughout the nation except for the Amazonas and Delta Amacuro states which are served by Units in charge of controlling and researching endemic diseases.

These sanitary dermatologists are the real heroes in the war against leprosy in Venezuela. They are permanently on guard against other endemic diseases as well, such as leishmaniasis (cutaneous and visceral), onchocerciasis, ectoparasitosis and cutaneaous mycoses.

Through its information platform and at the request of Dr. Jacinto Convit, founder of the National Dermatology Healthcare Network, the Foundation carries out promotional tasks so that this devoted professional team can continue to attend and care for the population in geographically isolated areas. It is our responsibility to provide logistical support to these professionals to complement their commendable work in favor of the country.

Through its digital platform and at the request of Dr. Jacinto Convit, founder of the National Dermatology Healthcare Network, the Foundation has the duty to promote and inform regarding the extraordinary group of specialists that dedicate their lives to assist patients in the remote areas of the country. Our purpose is to strengthen and help modernize the service in those centers. We are responsible for guiding and proving their contact information to patients and general public across the country who required to attend these centers for diagnose and treatment.

REGIONAL HEALTH SERVICES DERMATOLOGY (UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2019)

The inception and structure of the National Dermatology Healthcare Network is historically linked to Dr. Jacinto Convit, who envisaged the project very early in his career for the purpose of expanding nationwide healthcare for patients affected by leprosy.

Presently, Dr. Convit, at age 100, continues to serve as the chief physician of the Dermatology Healthcare Division attached to the Ministry of Health under the academic and healthcare supervision of the Institute of Biomedicine.

In 1946, while Dr. Convit was the medical director of the anti-leprosy services, he presented the Planning Commission of the Medical Care Institutions with a general plan for the control of leprosy which is the cornerstone of the current network. This vision was shared by Convit and his teacher and mentor Dr. Martín Vegas since 1941, when a string of events led to the creation of the National Dermatology Institute.

In order to provide institutional endorsement to both the National Institute of Dermatology and the Dermatology Healthcare Division, the Society for Dermatological Research (now a historical and crucial pillar of the Jacinto Convit Foundation) was created November 2, 1960. This association was created for the purpose of organizing, maintaining, and managing various dermatological research laboratories in the country, a task which incidentally the Foundation undertakes to rescue in order to return it to its rightful place in history with the highest professional quality it has represented over time.

By 1967, a complete healthcare infrastructure included not only the Dermatology Healthcare Division of the Ministry of Health, but also the College of Dermatology of the José María Vargas School of Medicine and the Dermatology Department of the Vargas Hospital, which at the time were renowned world-class centers and one of only two centers, along with the St. John Hospital for Skin Diseases of London, to be accredited by the American Board of Dermatology.

In the 60' and 70's, the staff of the Dermatology Healthcare Division had a luxury line-up of medical stars, such as J.J. Arvelo, a specialist in the rehabilitation of leprosy patients and doctors Enrique Rassi, Zino Catellazzi, S. Mendoza and Oscar Reyes, the latter a pioneer and master of dermatopathology in Venezuela.

The 70's also brought a series of milestones for the Dermatology Healthcare Network. First, the PAHO/WHO International Center for research and training in leprosy and other similar diseases (CIALEA) was created in the Institute on June 11, 1973 for the purpose of developing scientific research and effective operational and administrative methods to control leprosy and other tropical diseases. Afterwards, the Center for the study and control of Leprosy and other tropical diseases of the World Health Organization was created and headquartered in the Institute, which reflects the global recognition that both the Institute and the Sanitary Dermatology Division, its operational arm in the field, began to acquire.

Parallel to the opening of the postgraduate program in Dermatopathology in 1979, dermatology healthcare practice acquired an academic rank with the establishment of the postgraduate course that began to accept scholars from the Pan American Sanitary Office and to train local physicians that subsequently return to their regions to direct the services that until now have treated patients in the interior of the country uninterruptedly.

In 2006 Dr. Convit appointed Dr. Alberto Paniz Mondolfi as the National Supervisor of Epidemiology and Control of Leprosy and Leishmaniasis in order to perform work on a national scale that would allow the hyper-endemic areas of both diseases to be assessed and characterized in the area of molecular epidemiology, as well as assess their potential impact on the design of control policies for both diseases. Towards the end of 2007, Dr. Paniz Mondolfi left his position to pursue a specialization in dermatopathology and was later appointed the academic and research Director of the Foundation.

The close working relationship between Dr. Paniz Mondolfi and the regional services, as well as Dr. Convit's special interest, has led the Foundation to focus on the promotion of the Dermatology Healthcare Services Network and, within its possibilities, to pursue any initiative that will contribute to the strengthening and modernization of the services and their dedicated staff.