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After a fourteen-month test phase, the screening of newborns and infants for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) will continue, with an allocation of HUF 450M (EUR 1.1M) from the budget this year, as announced by the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior on Wednesday at Bethesda Children’s Hospital (Budapest), Magyar Nemzet reports.
Bence Rétvári added that the blood test, which is free of charge, must be requested by the parents. Last year, the National Health Insurance Fund spent HUF 6B (EUR 15.2M) on the treatment of children with spinal muscular atrophy, and the state provided HUF 400M (EUR 1M) for screenings, he noted.
The State Secretary explained that in the pilot program, nine out of 86,000 samples were diagnosed with the disease and treatment was initiated.
The samples will continue to be analyzed at the University of Szeged, Semmelweis University, and Bethesda Children’s Hospital. Mr. Rétvári mentioned that children from abroad also come to Hungary for SMA treatment, and parents can receive the treatment for a fee. The State Secretary expressed confidence that families would feel even safer with the continuation of the program.
In a family-friendly country, it is important that healthcare is of the highest possible quality from the first moment of a newborn’s life,”
he emphasized.
György Velkey, Director-General of Bethesda Children’s Hospital, highlighted the importance of early diagnosis for the treatment of this disease. If treatment is started as early as possible, there is hope that symptoms will not appear or will only appear in a mild form.
It is a great success for the Hungarian healthcare system and pediatrics that screening, diagnosis, and treatment have made it possible in recent years for children with this serious disease to grow up healthy,”
he pointed out. Since the resumption of screening, two newborns have been diagnosed with the disease, and treatment will begin shortly.
The treatments are encouraging, and demonstrate that Hungary is playing a pioneering role worldwide in the early detection and treatment of SMA, emphasized the Director-General.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured Image: Pixabay