Tamil Nadu   

Newborns screened for disabilities

CHENNAI: Preparatory to the implementation of a government programme for early identification of disabilities, all newborns in seven Primary Health Centres are being screened for disabilities and developmental delays.

The components of the project, being implemented by the Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu, include screening of newborns, intervention for the babies, training parents and nurses and midwives in PHCs. SPASTN experts visit the Centre for Screening and Management of Newborns for Developmental Delays in every PHC once a week to look for hearing, visual, cerebral abnormalities and development delays.

This is the first phase of the pilot project, according to Director of Public Health P.Padmanabhan. Bringing early detection into the PHCs will be of great help to rural people. It is common for parents in rural areas to neglect the disabilities of children owing to lack of awareness and access to specialists. This sets the children with disabilities back by several years.

Children that are only days’ old can be tested for hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, mental retardation—problems that are not visible at birth. Unlike a limb deformity or a vision defect, the other disabilities need to be identified early. Annie Shyam, of SPASTN, says: “Newborn screening will help us detect disabilities very early [within a few weeks of birth] and begin intervention immediately. The advantage with this is that the severity of the disability will come down drastically.”

SPASTN started training NGOs and doctors in newborn screening in the 1990’s. Currently, it is working in the Periapalayam, Red Hills, Minjur, Perambakkam, Avadi, Madhavaram and Padianallur PHCs.

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