​Hyderabad: For the first time in the country, the Telangana government will soon embark on the Birth Defects Registration Programme to record bodily defects of the newborn for rectification before it was too late.

Disclosing this to The Hans India on Monday, Health Minister Dr Lakshma Reddy explained that minor defects like hole in heart, kidney ailments, problem of the digestive tract and hearing-impairment, can be diagnosed quite early in life for rectification.

For example, hearing-impairment can be detected by clapping hands behind the baby’s back and gauzing the baby’s response, through audiometry tests, auditory brain stem response test and so on. Now-a-days the tests are not being conducted till the child is two or three years old, which was too late by that time.

There is an invisible link between speech and hearing. We hear and repeat words in the process of learning the language from elders. Hearing ability is crucial to acquire language skills.

Unfortunately, in our country over one-lakh children are born annually with defective hearing. Inability to recognise the defect in early stages of life is rendering them deaf and dumb for the rest of their life.

If the defect is detected early, they grow like anybody else and will be able to lead a normal life. Therefore, the Minister said the government is embarking on the programme, which is unprecedented in the country.

The government has been rendering good service through its ENT Hospital at Koti here. The hospital can better its service profile by identifying the children with defective hearing.

The poor and middle classes are not able to identify the problem of their wards till the children become four- or five-year old. By that time, the cost of treatment and hearing-aids and such other equipment will escalate.

Therefore, the Birth Defects Registration Programme would be very useful for the parents, he added.

Screening of the newborn for defects will enable the hospitals to identify the defects and provide remedial treatment, he added.

Speaking to The Hans India, a mother, Prasanna, lamented that her four-year-old son was diagnosed with defective hearing about a year ago. Had it been detected earlier, they would not have any problem at all.

Another mother, Swaroopa, expressed similar views referring to her daughter’s hearing problem. They felt that the programme would be very beneficial to the children.

It is the responsibility of the parents to identify the birth defects of children, including genetic problems, and get them rectified.

There is no exaggeration if anyone says that the proposed Birth Defects Registration Programme of the government would bring sheen to the lives of the newborn.

By: Satheesh Kumar Vempati