Goa to relaunch scheme to detect metabolic disorders in babies

The Manohar Parrikar-led Goa government will re-introduce the scheme to screen newborn babies for detecting metabolic disorders.
The scheme, started by the erstwhile Congress-led government in the state, was discontinued in 2012 when Manohar Parrikar was Chief Minister.
The health programme is now being resurrected when Parrikar is once again holding the top post.
"The baby screening programme will be reintroduced with necessary controls and safety measures under financing from Government of India," Health Minister Vishwajit Rane told PTI today.
Details of the scheme in its new avatar would be worked out in the coming days, he said.
The scheme, introduced by Rane during his tenure as Health Minister in the Digambar Kamat-led government, was discontinued in July 2012 when the BJP-led dispensation came to power.

The then health minister, Laxmikant Parsekar, had told the Assembly the scheme was scrapped so that the money spent on it could be utilised for other purposes.

Parsekar had then said the state was spending Rs 8.33 crore on the scheme, launched in 2008, and the amount could be used to improve rural healthcare facilities.
Bengaluru-based Neo-Gen lab was given the contract to screen the babies at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) for metabolic disorders.
Metabolic disorders refer to condition that disrupt normal metabolism, the process of converting food to energy on a cellular level.
Metabolic diseases affect the ability of the cell to perform critical biochemical reactions that involve the processing or transport of proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates (sugars and starches), or lipids (fatty acids).

These ailments are typically hereditary.