Newborn screening law only means extra income for doctors – Bullecer

Republic Act 9288, or the Newborn Screening law of 2004, is only a way for doctors to gain extra money, said human life advocate Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer and other doctors as they tackled several issues during yesterday’s 2008 National HLI-FLA Leaders Council Summit.

Doctor Gilda del Mar, a Davao-based pediatrician, said: “It is mandated by law for every baby to undergo a newborn screening but still it is a way to generate additional income for pediatricians.” 

Under RA 9288, the national newborn screening system is to “ensure that parents recognize their responsibility in promoting their child’s right to health and full development by protecting their child from preventable cause of disability and death.”

Del Mar admitted that 99 percent of newborns in the Philippines do not need this screening and, to counteract this code, pediatricians in Davao had come up with a waiver to stop the “pangwarta” through this requirement of the law.

She said that generally speaking, the illness and diseases stated in the Newborn Screening Act are not common to Filipino children.  — Annie Hazel D. Basada and Rizzi Ann Cerera