Comprehensive screening for newborns in Kerala soon

Comprehensive screening for newborns in Kerala soon

News:

1. Kerala is set to introduce Comprehensive Newborn Screening (CNS) programme

Important Facts:

2. Present Initiatives:

• Newborns are screened in public sector facilities for inherent metabolic disorders (blood test) and hearing deficit (OAE- Oto Acoustic Emissions test).
• Hridyam programme introduced- The programme aims at early detection and management of congenital heart diseases

3. Issues with current programmes:

• Scattered, not comprehensive
• No mechanism to document or track infants in need of continuous follow-up treatment

4. Objectives of CNS Programme:

• To assess newborns in public sector health facilities for birth abnormalities and critical congenital illnesses within 48 hours of birth
• To improve the quality of survival of these babies

5. Benefits of the programme:

• Early identification and management of all deficits in infants
• Help in reducing State’s burden of disabilities
• Help in reducing infant mortality rate (IMR)

6. Details of the programme:

• CNS to converge all newborn screening programmes on a web-based platform. It will have a unified reporting system and link-ups with District Early Intervention Centres (DEICs)
• Newborns to be assessed under 4 domains:

a) Visible birth defects,

b) Functional defects (hearing issues, congenital cataracts, heart diseases)

c) Metabolic disorders

d) Neuro-development issues

• Android app developed for visible birth defect reporting and documentation at all delivery points. This will link all positive cases of disability recorded to the DEIC