Government Builds Genetics Research Center and Special Classrooms for Venezuela’s Disabled

In an expansion of a national program of assistance for people with disabilities, the Venezuelan government inaugurated a new genetics research center on Wednesday.


Mérida, October 15th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com)
— In an expansion of the Jose Gregorio Hernandez Mission, a national program
of assistance for people with disabilities, the Venezuelan government
inaugurated a new genetics research center on Wednesday, and announced the
construction of nearly four hundred special public school classrooms with
facilities designed to accommodate the disabled.

"With the inauguration of the National Center for Medical
Genetics of Venezuela, we are writing a new page in the history of health in
Venezuela," said President Hugo Chavez during the inauguration. 

The center, which is located in Miranda state near the
national capital Caracas, is equipped for research primarily in human medical
conditions, genetic engineering, neuroscience, child neurological development,
molecular biology, cognitive neuroscience, sensory and muscular disorders,
radioactivity, hematological chemistry, and biochemistry, according to the
Bolivarian News Agency.

Venezuelan specialists working in the center, with the
assistance of Cuban genetics specialists, will study and help treat tens of
thousands of Venezuelans who have genetically derived disabilities. 

"Many of these studies are costly and some had to be done
outside of the country. With this center, the Venezuelan people will benefit
for free," Chavez said.

Also, 383 classrooms designed for disabled students are under
construction and will be incorporated into the nation's public schools by the
end of this year, Chavez announced on Wednesday. The classrooms will allow more
than 3,800 children with disabilities to attend school, he said.

In Venezuela, there are
336,270 people with disabilities, of which 18,293 have not been able to
attended school, according to a nation-wide survey of the disabled carried out
last year by the Jose Gregorio Hernandez Mission, which is named after the
popular Venezuelan saint known as the "People's Doctor" and was founded last year.