Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) National Newborn Screening Unit has been relocated to the outpatient department at the Women’s Wellness and Research Centre.
The unit, which opened at Women’s Hospital in 2003, provides screening for all babies born in Qatar. To date, the newborn heel prick test has been administered to more than 250,000 babies across the country. The screening quickly identifies specific harmful or potentially fatal disorders that aren’t otherwise apparent at birth.
Dr Hilal al-Rifai, director, Qatar Newborn Screening Programme and medical director of Women’s Hospital, stressed the importance of parents consenting to the newborn heel prick test that is routinely performed at every birthing facility in Qatar 36-72 hours after a baby’s birth.
“Although a baby testing positive for a potentially fatal or disabling metabolic and endocrine diseases is not that common, it does occur. Recently, one of our babies screened positive for Primary Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH), a condition that affects the body’s thyroid gland,” he said.
Dr al-Rifai explained that babies with CH often show no symptoms of the condition. However, left undiagnosed and untreated, CH can result in growth failure and permanent intellectual disability.
“In this case, by detecting the disorder early, we were able to avoid irreversible damage to the baby’s health and well-being,” Dr al-Rifai said, adding, “A lifelong daily dose of thyroid hormone (thyroxine) has been prescribed to replace the deficiency and has proven to have a long-term
positive outcome for this child.”
According to Dr Ghassan Abdoh, senior consultant, Paediatric Neonatology and head of HMC’s Newborn Screening Unit, since its opening, the newborn screening unit has provided early diagnosis and treatment for over 700 babies that have tested positive for a disease or disorder. The unit has reported 98% survival rate of babies successfully treated for potentially fatal or
disabling diseases.
“Once we are certain a baby has tested positive, we initiate contact with his or her parents so we can explain the process for their baby’s care,” said Dr Abdoh. “We know that hearing this news will be very difficult for a parent, so we ensure follow-up care involves multiple face-to-face visits in the clinic.”
The Newborn Screening Programme is provided free of charge to all babies delivered in Qatar and currently screens for over 30 diseases or disorders.

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