Every newborn in the UAE to be screened for critical congenital heart disease

Newborn Yousef Al Kindi is given the screening for congenital heart disease at the Corniche hospital in Abu Dhabi in 2011. The previous tests could miss as many as half the babies with the condition. Ravindranath K / The NationalShow less

Every newborn in the country is to be screened for critical congenital heart disease.

The move will save lives, experts say, and it follows a mandatory screening programme introduced by Heath Authority – Abu Dhabi (Haad) in January 2012.

The Ministry of Health said birthing centres in private and government hospitals across Dubai and the Northern Emirates will now follow suit.

“This will save lives, absolutely,” said Ameena Al Qubaisi, head of the maternity and childhood section at the ministry.

Congenital heart disease (CCHD)can prevent the heart from pumping blood properly or reduces the amount of oxygen that flows to vital organs, which it turn can lead to organ damage and death.

Experts across the UAE have also welcomed the initiative.

“I think this is an important issue, especially when it comes to cardiac diseases,” said Dr Obaid Al Jassim, the head of cardiothoracic surgery at Dubai Hospital.

“It is a serious disease and if you discover it early then the outcome and the treatment will be better.”

The screening will be carried out using pulse oximetry within the first 24 hours of birth, which uses a light probe to measure oxygen levels in the heart’s red blood cells.

The examination takes just minutes and replaces current tests that miss nearly half of cases. “Of course this will help to treat our children as soon as possible – to have a better outcome,” said Dr Al Jassim.

“Most of the congenital heart diseases are treatable today. But it is important to catch them early on.”

Dr Shahraban Abdulla, a paediatric cardiology consultant at Dubai’s Latifa Hospital, said the hospital had already been carrying out screening for critical congenital heart defects for a year.

Screening, she said, is important in the initial days after birth to detect any serious heart defects.

In most cases, early detection is vital as a delayed diagnosis can result in death or severe neurological impairment, according to the Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention in the United States.

Babies now get a physical examination that checks their pulse and breathing rate. But often this is unreliable, experts say, missing nearly half of heart defect cases.

Coupled with the physical test, the pulse oximetry test is about 95 per cent accurate.

“Screening is very important because some serious congenital heart diseases are asymptomatic in the first stages,” said Dr Sulaiman Al Saqqaf, a specialist paediatric cardiologist at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital.

“These babies then suddenly fall in shock and heart failure. Screening really discovers these cases. That is why screening is a must.”

In January 2012, Abu Dhabi was the first place in the Arabian Gulf to implement universal screening – doing so before even the United States, doctors said at the time.

From the time of implementing pulse oximetry, more than 83,500 babies have been screened in Abu Dhabi and over 34 cases of newborns with CCHD were identified.

“Safeguarding the health of Abu Dhabi infants is a top priority for Haad, and this simple screening will help accomplish this goal,” said Dr Omniyat Al Hajri, director of public health and policy at Haad.

“Most of the newborns who we’ve detected to have CCHD seemed to appear completely ‘normal-looking’ when born,” said Dr Al Hajri.

“Heart disease is invisible to the naked eye, and it could go completely undetected until a child starts to show some symptoms of it later on in life.”

The ministry said workshops have been carried out in Ajman and Umm Al Quwain to train medical professionals.

Each test will cost as little as Dh3.67, and the UAE is the first country in the Middle East to implement CCHD screening.