KATHMANDU, Oct 6: The Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital, Thapathali has launched two new services. The hospital has started OPD for mental health services for pregnant and postpartum women and the 'NewBorn Screening' service to detect hereditary diseases in newborns.
Inaugurating the services on Sunday, Health and Population Minister Pradeep Paudel said that these services were essential and were started to diagnose the possible mental health issues of pregnant women and the risk of hereditary problems of the newborn.
Minister Paudel further committed to ensuring required manpower and equipment to run the services smoothly.
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Director of the hospital, Dr Shree Prasad Adhikari, said that the mental health OPD service has been started there considering the high risk of anxiety among women during pregnancy or childbirth.
He said, "Mental health problems during pregnancy and childbirth have a negative impact not only on women but also on the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of children. If the problem is identified in time, it could be addressed."
Dr Adhikari said that the service aims to identify 'metabolic disorders' in newborns and treat them in time and to reduce the mortality rate of newborns. The hospital has conducted this test on 205 infants since July.
The 'blood spot test' performed within a few days after the birth of a newborn is called the 'newborn screening test'. Various types of genetic problems could be detected in newborns through this test. Currently, the test can identify six hereditary diseases, and the hospital aims to expand its services to include additional diseases in the future by adding more resources.
Babies who test positive will receive immediate treatment.
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