Motion of the Progressives on the Newborn Screening Center
Group leader Agus: «It is serious that Isola has lagged behind in the early diagnosis of a debilitating disease such as spinal muscular atrophy»Francesco Agus, group leader of the Progressives (Archive)
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" We consider it very serious how Sardinia has lagged behind in the early diagnosis of an extremely debilitating and often fatal disease such as spinal muscular atrophy". This was underlined by Francesco Agus, group leader of the Progressives and first signatory of a motion on the Neonatal Screening Center, a health facility located in the Microcitemico hospital which carries out tests on all those born in Sardinia for the early diagnosis of numerous hereditary metabolic diseases, filed in the Council regional.
For Agus, a member of the Health Commission, it is a matter of intervening by implementing the activities of the Screening Center with specific regional programs such as the one activated in 2016 for cystic fibrosis : «The Screening Center can certainly insert further tests such as the one for muscle atrophy spinal cord or for lysosomal storage diseases in the test set foreseen in the mandatory newborn screening. It cannot do so, however, without the Regional Council intervening in a specific way by allocating appropriate financial resources and strengthening the personnel employed in the Centre".
The council initiative, proposed by the Progressives, aims to solicit the councilor for health on the various issues relating to the screening center, on whose activities the disastrous public health reform promoted by the centre-right weighs heavily.
«The newborn screening center is a fundamental structure for newborns in Sardinia. The early detection of the disease in the pre-symptomatic phase allows for the diagnosis, early treatment and prevention of damage resulting from a late diagnosis of hereditary pathologies», highlights the group leader Agus. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a disease characterized by a progressive degeneration of neurons located in the spinal cord responsible for controlling muscles and movement. In the most severe forms, detected in 50% of registered cases of SMA, children already show worrying symptoms such as muscle weakness, progressive motor difficulties and respiratory failure in the first months of life.
"Sardinia is one of the four Italian regions that has not yet implemented newborn screening programs for certain pathologies, including spinal muscular atrophy," underlines the opposition exponent. "We could and should do it too, because for access to pharmacological gene therapy against SMA approved by AIFA, diagnosis is necessary at a very early stage".