Breakthrough: Latest medical test conducted at Pims

Newborn screening will help save lives

A screening test (heel prick) was conducted on a newborn at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) here for the first time in the country.  

The test was administered by the ZB Foundation on Monday, said a press release.

The statement said the foundation had taken a significant step in its journey to administer free newborn screening throughout the country.

Dr Ali Raza, director and primary care paediatrician at the IHS Children Hospital Islamabad and the ZB Foundation clinical coordinator, performed the test.

He said, “The ZB Foundation will take this first test, and use it as a base to build and expand the newborn screening programme, while at the same time use this achievement to further educate and teach doctors and parents on the importance of this essential test.”

“A test that should be every newborn baby’s birth right,” he added.

Ali Naqvi, chairman of the foundation, said “Within 48 hours we will receive the baby’s screening results back from our partner Medlabs in Jordan, inform the doctor and parents and then act accordingly to support the family whatever the outcome.”

Newborn screening is a form of preventive healthcare in which babies are tested within the first days of their life to discover evidence of disorders for which the principal symptoms may not yet be apparent.

Based in Pakistan, the ZB Foundation’s aim is to pioneer the use of newborn screening, the statement said. The tests will help save countless lives, it stressed further.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2015.