Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala is gearing up to make disability screening mandatory for getting birth certificates to ensure early intervention. The new rule is expected to come into effect within six to seven months.
The executive director of Kerala Social Security Mission B. Mohammed Asheel said that the state had made it mandatory at all public delivery points.
Otoacoustic emissions test (OAE), which aims at detecting hearing disability in newborn, will be carried out on all newborns.
“We have equipped every public sector delivery points in the state to carry out universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) and screened around 1 lakh newborns till now. Early intervention and awareness is critical, and hence the government is gearing up to making it mandatory for getting birth certificates and school admission,” said Mr Asheel.
The Mission also trained junior public health nurses for screening newborns.He said that necessary amendments would be brought in the current rules to make this mandatory.
“The chief minister has initiated steps to ensure that disability screening is implemented at private hospitals too,” said Mr Asheel. As part of the National Health Mission (NHM), the government is going to launch comprehensive newborn screening (CNS) – which includes heart defect, visible disabilities, hearing disability – across all delivery points.
