DOH to step up newborn screening drive

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Health (DOH) will intensify efforts to improve newborn screening (NBS) services in the country, saying nothing much has improved since the passage of the Newborn Screening Act in 2004.

DOH records showed that as of December 2007, only 15.6 percent or 234,000 of the 1.5 million babies born annually have undergone NBS procedures.

Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director of the DOH’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said that NBS is important because it could detect and help stop debilitating illnesses of infants.

“Newborn screening is a very simple procedure that can save the lives of the newborn. It will ensure that newborns will grow healthy and normally. We hope that parents would allow their infants to go through this procedure,” she said. 

Oliveros noted that NBS procedure costs only P550.

In NBS, blood is extracted from an infant’s foot to test for five illnesses – congenital hypothyrodism (CH), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), galactosemia (GAL), phenylketonuria (PKU), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD Def).

CH is caused by lack or absence of thyroid hormone which is essential for the growth of the brain and body, while CAH is an endocrine disorder that causes severe salt loss, dehydration and abnormally high levels of male sex hormones in both boys and girls.

GAL, on the other hand, prevents babies from processing galactose or the sugar in the milk, leading to liver and brain damage and cataracts.

Babies with PKU experience excessive accumulation of phenylalanine in the blood, causing brain damage. Those with G6PD Def suffer hemolytic anemia due to lack of the G6PD enzyme.

The procedure is ideally done on the second or third day after a child is born but it can also be performed 24 hours from birth. Some disorders are not detected if the test is done earlier.

Oliveros noted that prior to 2005, NBS coverage was a dismal three to five percent. This improved two years later when the DOH beefed up its information campaign about the program and after the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. began including the procedure in its benefit packages.

The DOH has made NBS a “mandatory licensing requirement for all hospitals.” Last Feb. 1, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III reiterated this requirement in a memorandum to all DOH officials and hospital directors.