The Department of Health (DOH) recently introduced expanded newborn screenings (NBS), which increases the number of disorder screenings from six to 28.

According to DOH-Region VI (DOH-6) Family Health and Nutrition cluster head, Dr. Renilyn Reyes, many babies with inborn diseases “look normal,” and newborn screenings help “prevent, delay, or reduce serious diseases.”

An NBS is performed by collecting a few drops of blood from a baby 24 hours after they are born.

The basic screening, which detects congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, galactosemia, phenylketonuria, maple syrup urine disease, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, costs P550 for PhilHealth members; expanded NBS costs P1,500./WDJ