The Ministry of Health (MOH) has launched the first phase of the Newborn Screening for Hearing-Loss and Critical Congenital Heart Defects (CCHD) Program in 30 MOH’s referral hospitals. The Ministry has pointed out that the newborns are getting screened after birth and before discharge from the hospital; in an endeavor to make sure that they are free of early hearing-loss and CCHD, in addition to the early intervention when necessary.
Within the same vein, the Ministry underlined that a comprehensive database and e-system has been launched for the registration of such screening test results, as well as controlling quality and performance through periodical reports. This e-system is reckoned a paradigm shift in the Saudi health domain worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that the United States has not yet had a national system for the registration and follow-up of early screening results for CCHD. Nevertheless, a comprehensive screening is performed on all newborns in the US, except in two states only, as stated in their reports that this issue is one of the upcoming challenges.
It is worth mentioning that there is no national system in any other countries for the registration of screening results for CCHD. As for the national system for the registration of early screening results for hearing-loss, it is available only in 18 countries outside the Middle East worldwide, based on some reports.
This unified e-system for the registration and follow-up of screening results for CCHD and hearing-loss has been launched in all the MOH referral hospitals, and covered more than 60% of newborns.
Finally, the MOH highlighted that the second phase of this program will be launched during the next year to cover all the MOH newborns.