Abstract:
Neonatal screening is the process of identifying infants with treatable metabolic diseases.
Congenital Hypothyroidism is a treatable when identified within few days of birth before
becoming symptomatic. Nuclear Medicine Unit (NMU) of the Faculty of Medicine,
performed a test (named TSH) to find out affected infants when they between 24 hours
and 7 days old. The NMU collect and analyze 1000-1500 bloodspots of newly born
babies weekly from hospitals in Southern Province. The results sheets of samples
analyzed have been prepared by manually and delivered to the Medical Officer of Health
(MOH), through the Regional Director of Health Services by post in the end of each
month. The MOH then informs each Public Health Midwife (PHM) to note down the
results of the babies, whose mothers are under her care. This process takes at least 6 weeks
to deliver the result to the infant's mother. This article describes an accumulation of
Neonatal Screening Information System Database (NSISD) for the NMU as a solution to
overcome obstructions of record keeping and dissemination of results. The system
introduced was developed as a web based database using Scripting languages PHP, java
script, CSS and database query language MySQL and codeigniter the free and open
source PHP framework. Intention of this project was to facilitate to rapid disseminate,
preserve, generate reports and manage results and data to provide fast, flexible and
accurate searching with good security. The NSISD was facilitated to view TSH result of
infant's to their mother with enter bead head ticket (BHT) and hospital via internet and
send SMS to them automatically. Doctors, MOH, PHM, Directors and researchers can
access data, reports and graphs according to their privileges. The rapid transfer of results
to the infant's parents will ensure the confidence and acceptance of the screening program.
