The Ministry of Health (MoH) has increased cardiac diagnosis of the newborn from 20% to 90% during 2017. In its 2017 achievements report, MoH stressed that this process has helped early detect congenital cardiac problems, treat them in initial phases, improve the health of cardiac children, reduce the burden and economic cost for both patients and the state. To do so, MoH has boosted the efficiency of the medical teams in Newborn Units through continuous training, policies and guidelines, as well as new indicators that help monitor performance.
Likewise, MoH has increased the number hearing diagnosis of the newborn from 17% to 89%. Thank Allah this has helped early detect hearing defects, treat them in their initial stages; thus, enabling the newborn to enjoy a normal life which is free from hearing impairments.
In the same vein, the Ministry of Health (MoH) continues activating the National Newborn Screening Program to eliminate disabilities. This program is designed to detect any genetic diseases that cause serious complications. The program aims to screen the newborn across the Kingdom to secure early detection of hereditary diseases that would cause them serious health complications, including mental and motor disabilities, weak growth and premature death. According to MoH, failing to detect and treat such diseases early leads to untold complications, and poses a huge social and mental burden on the child's parents; which the program seeks to eliminate.
The Program aims to screen all the newborn in their first 24-72 hours for all covered illnesses to early detect diseases and provide the needed healthcare as soon as possible; to prevent incurred complications. This Program features one general objective; that is early screening of the newborn reduces disease and disability rates caused by genetic disorders (endocrine and metabolic diseases covered by the Program). The Program also has detailed objectives, including: extending the Program's coverage to include maternity hospitals, boosting the Program's efficiency at all levels, raising the community's awareness about genetic diseases covered by the Program, engaging the community, creating a database of all genetic disorders and ongoing assessment to develop the Program and improve its performance.