The facility will get funding from Centre’s National Rural Health Mission
The Goa government will restart newborn baby screening facility in the state under National Rural Health Mission. This information was provided by Vishwajit Rane, health Minister, Goa.
“Government of Goa is restarting newborn baby screening on top priority and will get funding from the Centre through the National Rural Health Mission,” said Rane.
“Goa was the only state where 28 parameters were being checked for treatable metabolic disorders in babies. Heel to Heal was the name of our campaign where two drops of blood were taken from the heel of the child and within 48 hours the tests were conducted so as to give a better quality life for our children,” he said.
“We will move in the direction of Singapore which has newborn baby screening linked to birth registrations – in the interests of our children of Goa,” Rane said, adding, the process to restart the screening has begun.
“We are hoping that the screening would start from this year onwards as the cases of disorder amongst children are on the rise and we should diagnose them on time,” the minister said.