WAM DUBAI, 9th April, 2014 (WAM) — Ajman and Umm Al Qaiwain Medical Districts have organised a workshop about the diagnostic techniques of the early screening programme of congenital heart diseases for babies and newborns.
The programme depends on measuring oxygen percentage by using a sensitive device around the newborn’s right arm for 24 hours to check the oxygen percentage in the blood and determine the difference between the newborn’s feet and hand. If the oxygen percentage decreases less than the normal rate, then this is considered an indication for congenital heart diseases, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).
A preparatory meeting was held at the MoH in Dubai in cooperation with human resources, paediatric doctors and nurses to establish the implementation techniques of the programme and acknowledge the obstacles and problems which hinder the application of the programme in public hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health and the shortage of equipments and trained nursing staff.
The attendees agreed to form a community that would include representatives from various government hospitals who would be responsible for following up the implementation of the programme, determining coordinators in each hospital in charge of the programme and transferring cases to the paediatric heart consultant to make more tests, diagnosis, follow up and treatment.
Amina Al Qubaisi, Head of the Maternity and Childhood Section, stated the importance of applying the congenital heart diseases programme to be included within the national new born early screening programme, hoping that it would be included in all government and private health authorities and medical districts in the U.A.E.. "The Ministry of Health plays a great role in maintaining the health of women and children through adopting the latest health practices in this field and coinciding with the expansion policy of the programme", she said.
The United Arab Emirates is the first country in the Middle East to implement such a programme, which is expected to be used in all of the emirates. According to the MoH, the cost of the test is US $1, equivalent to AED 3.65.
WAM/AAMIR/Moran
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