Every parent’s dream for their child is to provide them the best possible start in their life; and this dream is now taking a significant step forward with Trivitron Healthcare’s latest initiative titled #EkSahiShuruat, which has been launched by them ahead of Children’s Day 2023. As we celebrate Children’s Day in a bid to raise awareness about the rights and welfare of children, Trivitron Healthcare’s #EkSahiShuruat initiative is striving to create awareness at scale about the critical importance of Newborn Screening (NBS) in India.
‘Ek Sahi Shuruat’ or “A Good and Healthy Start” or “A Right Beginning” – highlights the role of newborn screening in providing the best and healthiest start to a child’s life. Trivitron Healthcare strongly believes that by supporting and advocating for newborn screening, we can make a positive impact on the overall well-being of our country’s newborns, giving them the best shot at a healthy and fulfilling future. The #EkSahiShuruat initiative will serve as a call to action for Indians to prioritize newborn screening, and in the long run, aim to establish a nationwide program on NBS and make it a mandatory part of the national healthcare system. By doing so, India can prevent unnecessary suffering and substantially improve the overall well-being of its youngest citizens and future of the nation.
The National Newborn Screening program originated in early 1960s in the US. Since then, various regions globally, such as Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and numerous Asia-Pacific countries, have embraced NBS programs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided guidelines and criteria for determining which disorders should be included under NBS programs.
In India, NBS is not a mandatory practice, and additionally, there is a considerable lack of awareness about it among both healthcare professionals and the general population. This poses a serious concern, given that India witnesses over 25 million births annually, yet fewer than 1 million babies undergo screening for life-threatening disorders. This is exactly where #EkSahiShuruat hopes to make positive difference and impact soon.
Ms. Chandra Ganjoo, Group Chief Executive Officer, Trivitron Healthcare commented, “We are pleased to introduce our flagship initiative #EkSahiShuruat on Chidren’s Day this year — an initiative dedicated to providing a good and healthy start to every child’s life. Newborn screening is a vital component of healthcare for infants. It offers the opportunity to detect and address health issues in the earliest stage, reducing the burden on families and the healthcare system at large. We believe that NBS should be a part of our national healthcare program in order to ensure that every child in India has access to these life-saving tests, and therefore with #EkSahiShuruat, we are trying to create a nationwide movement to enable this. Going forward, under the aegis of #EkSahiShuruat, we will be working actively to create large-scale awareness among parents, caregivers, and healthcare professionals about the importance of NBS.”
In India, as reported on Indian Pediatrics, the prevalence of inborn errors of metabolism is approximately 1 in every 2,497 newborns. Newborn Screening/Neonatal Screening or NBS consists a series of standard tests conducted shortly after birth, which can identify potentially life-threatening or disabling conditions in a newborn child, allowing for timely interventions and informed decisions for parents; it includes an array of tests for specific genetic, metabolic, and congenital conditions in newborns. Newborn screening not only saves lives, but also significantly reduces healthcare costs by identifying and treating health issues in infancy, which is more cost-effective than managing complications resulting from late diagnosis.
As a leading brand in the med-tech space in India, Trivitron Healthcare is committed to promoting newborn screening as an integral part of comprehensive healthcare for newborns, educating parents about the significance of these tests, and providing them with essential information and resources. Trivitron’s Labsystems Diagnostics Oy Finland is the manufacturer of a wide range of Newborn Screening products, including modular and fully automated NBS instrumentation, and reagent testing kits for various Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs). Labsystems Diagnostics OY Finland is a globally renowned name when it comes to Newborn Screening (NBS) Technology.