CAIRO – About 107,000 children were examined as part of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s initiative for the early detection of genetic diseases in new-borns and the provision of free treatment under the “100 Million Health” initiative that was launched on 13 July, announced the Health and Population Ministry on Friday.
The initiative, in its first phase, examines 19 genetic diseases in new-borns in the nurseries of the ministry’s hospitals nationwide, said Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar.
Head of the Health Care and Nursing Sector Wael Abdel Razek, meanwhile, said that the 19 diseases that are detected include congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, folic anaemia, cystic fibrosis, hereditary hyperlipidaemia, phenylketonuria, and tetraplegic deficiency hydropetrin.
The examination is carried out by taking a blood sample from the child’s ankle and analysing it through the Egyptian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which is provided with a laboratory equipped with the latest international devices in the field of detecting genetic diseases, he added.
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