Caloocan hospitals offer free newborn screening

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri has ordered all city-owned hospitals to administer “newborn screening tests” free of charge on all infants delivered at their medical facilities.

Echiverri said this was to ensure that all parents of newborn babies in the city will be given an opportunity to know what congenital metabolic disorders their children could have, which could lead to mental retardation and death if left untreated.

The newborn screening package, which usually costs at least P550, checks for congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, galactosemia, phenylketonuria, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. – Jerry Botial