Neonatal Screening eng.book

In response to your request for advice dated 12 August 2003, I hereby present an advisory report on the screening of newborns. It has been prepared by a Health Council Committee that I established and was reviewed by the Standing Committee on Genetics and the Standing Committee on Medical Ethics and Health Law. The Committee considers the screening criteria that have already been formulated by the Health Council in the past to be adequate. The screening should be in the interests of the newborn child, the information should be clear, and the treatment must be accessible to patients. The Committee does not recommend screening for untreatable diseases. The Committee recommends that newborns should be screened for 18 disorders for which diagnosis and treatment shortly after birth produce a substantial health gain for the majority of patients. In the case of 1 of these 18 conditions, the Committee recommends that research first be conducted with a view to developing a suitable test method. A rough cost estimate has been included as an appendix in the advisory report. The Committee also recommends that information should be given to parents during the pregnancy, rather than after the child is born.