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Comprehensive screening for newborns in Kerala soon
News:
- Kerala is set to introduce Comprehensive Newborn Screening (CNS) programme
Important Facts:
- 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
- Issues with current programmes:
- Scattered, not comprehensive
- No mechanism to document or track infants in need of continuous follow-up treatment
- 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
- 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)
- 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
