The increasing number of malformed and unhealthy babies being born in areas of Ha Noi has brought a call for education on the benefits of prenatal and postnatal screening of babies.
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Doctors at Ninh Binh General Hospital use a modern 4D ultrasound machine. |
Huong said only 437 babies of more than 9,300 born this year in the city had been tested at birth.
The reason was the merging into Ha Noi of outlying regions where the importance of screening was ignored or not understood.
Nationwide there were some 30,000 babies tested at birth last year. The rate in the National Obstetrics Hospital was 47.4 per cent.
The project had been launched in 10 new districts of Ha Noi without much success, Huong said.
In the first month of last year, only three newborns in eight hospitals of the above 10 districts were tested out of 1,000 births. Meanwhile, the number tested in central Ha Noi’s Thanh Nhan General Hospital alone from July to date was 500, Huong said.
“This shows that the awareness of parents living in the urban areas is higher, and the enthusiasm of health staff there is higher as well,” Huong said.
Improved communication and education was needed so prenatal and postnatal screening gained wider acceptance, Huong said.
Population Department deputy director Dang Van Nghi said the national screening project had been operating since last year in 20 provinces and cities and aimed at making screening available in 70 per cent of the areas involved.
The project was expected to be in full operation in central Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Gia Lai provinces and Da Nang City, by the end of this year, he said.
Under the screening project, doctors would check the foetuses of pregnant mothers while newborn babies would be given blood tests within 72 hours of delivery.
National Obstetrics Hospital deputy director Le Anh Tuan said between 1-2 per cent of newborns had serious health problems.
There was no accurate figure for infants born with malformation, but the estimate was 22,000 to 30,000 every year, he said.
The reasons for malformations included pollution, harmful foods and marriage between close relations, among other factors.
The rate of malformed babies being born was high because not enough attention was being paid to premarital consultancy and antenatal screening.
The malformation rate was highest in expectant mothers between 29-35 years old, Tuan said.
The rate of antenatal selection and postnatal testing in Viet Nam was only 1 per cent, while in South Korea and Japan it was 90 and 100 per cent respectively.
Conjoined twins Nguyen Thi Minh Hong and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai were born last September in Kinh Bac hospital in norhern Bac Ninh Province and both have congenital heart malformation.
Their mother, Tran Thi Thanh, said she had never heard of antenatal diagnosis. She had taken a monthly ultrasound at a private clinic but was told the babies were in good condition.
Each month the National Obstetrics Hospital had five or six cases of malformed infants being born, Tuan said, yet foetuses’ malformation could be identified at between 12 and 16 weeks.
“However, the capacity and equipment in many local clinics does not ensure accuracy.”
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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