The news that the state government is all set to reintroduce newborn baby screening at Goa’s premier hospital the Goa Medical College and Hospital is perplexing to say the least. When first launched back in 2008 by the Health Minister Vishwajit Rane who is also the current health minister in the coalition government the scheme was thought of as something novel and little else was known.
However, no sooner governments changed in 2012, it became apparent that the screening of newborns at the government hospital for metabolic disorders was a costly exercise the benefits of which were, at best, vague. Then Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said as much when he announced the decision to scrap the facility. “Through these screenings we have found that one of nine thousand babies born at GMC has an amino acid disorder; one out of 11,500 has a fatty acid disorder and one of of thirty-five thousand has an organic acid disorder. All this at the cost of Rs 8.33 crore.
No doubt we are the first state in the country to do this but I would rather we spent this money on improving our PHCs (primary health centres) and CHCs (Community Health Centres),” Parsekar had said.
With these facts and figures before us, it is hard to disagree with Parsekar that the screening is superfluous. All the more so because it is being done at a government hospital at the cost of the taxpayer. Vishwajit’s claim that the screening will help in early detection of such metabolic anomalies in babies makes no sense especially since, once detected, there is little else the state government is claiming to do for them.
If the government decides to unjustifiably go ahead with the scheme, it will only send out a message that fiscal prudence must be sacrificed on the altar of political appeasement with not so subtle undertones of kickbacks being the driving force behind its reintroduction. The least the government could do was to be less brazen about the manner in which it is going about compromising on its ideals. It is this very recklessness by ministers that cost Digambar Kamat his government and reduced the Congress to nine in a 40 member house.
For the moment it is imperative that the government shelves plans to reintroduce such a scheme and save itself from the impression that it is spending taxpayers’ money at the whims and fancies of ministers elected and yet to be re-elected.
