DISY Limassol MP Fotini Tsiridou has submitted a Proposal for a Law, which aims to enact legislation that will shield the performance of screening tests on pregnant women and newborns. At the same time, the proposed legislation will establish and recognize the "National Body" for the performance of screening tests on pregnant women and newborns in Cyprus.
More specifically, the Proposed Law introduces legislation for three paediatric prevention programmes:
A. Prenatal screening of newborns for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities,
B. Newborn screening for metabolic abnormalities; and
C. Neonatal screening for hearing issues.
The first program, prenatal screening of newborns for chromosomal abnormalities, is performed during the mother's 10th week of gestation with the main focus on the detection of Down's syndrome.
The second programme, newborn screening, aims at the early diagnosis of metabolic disorders in newborns, such as hypothyroidism, which affects the child's mental and physical development.
Newborn hearing screening detects hearing problems such as hearing loss.
Today, these services and programs are offered pro bono and voluntarily by the Center for Preventive Pediatrics to all pregnant women and newborns in the country.
It should be noted that to date, approximately 300,000 checks have been carried out on pregnant women under the first programme, while approximately the same number of checks have been carried out on newborns under the second programme. Since 2004 the Centre for Preventive Paediatrics has been offering the third programme (newborn hearing screening) thanks to which there is no child in Cyprus who cannot speak due to hearing loss. At the same time, the Centre for Preventive Paediatrics in collaboration with the Institute of Neurology and Genetics and the Ministry of Health are promoting the extension of the (second) screening programme to cover many more diseases.
Through the Proposed Law the above are shielded and institutionalized so that these services, which are currently offered exclusively through private initiative completely free of charge, become the obligation and responsibility of the National State Agency, which is established through this Proposed Law.
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