Draft Population Law 2020: Coordination and Facilitation of Prenatal Screening

Draft Population Law 2020: Coordination, facilitation of prenatal screening (Illustration)

To be specific, Article 39 of the Draft Population Law 2020 stipulates the consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth as follows:

1. Consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth must be conducted on a voluntary basis and the confidentiality of health status and personal information recorded in medical files must be maintained.

2. The content of consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth includes risks of fetal defects; risks of congenital abnormalities; diseases related to endocrine-metabolic-genetic disorders in newborns; prevention and handling methods during pregnancy and for newborns.

3. Pregnant women voluntarily visit healthcare facilities to receive consultation, screening, and prenatal diagnosis; parents or other family members voluntarily enroll newborns in services for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of congenital diseases.

4. Pregnant women, especially those who are 35 years old or older, those with a history of miscarriage, family history of children with diseases, congenital defects, disabilities, those whose parents are consanguineous within three generations, and pregnant women infected with Rubella or Herper virus, taking specialized medication, or exposed to toxic environments, are encouraged to undergo consultation, screening, prenatal diagnosis, and newborn treatment.

5. Screening, diagnosis, and prenatal treatment for surrogate mothers for humanitarian purposes as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 97 of the Law on Marriage and Family are obligatory. Parents or other family members voluntarily enroll newborns for screening, diagnosis, and neonatal treatment.

6. Facilities providing consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth must inform the service users of the results and ensure confidentiality of health status and personal information recorded in medical files.

7. Government bodies managing health and population affairs, and facilities providing consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth, are responsible for promoting, encouraging, and implementing consultation, screening, diagnosis, prenatal and neonatal treatment. They should assist and support the individuals stipulated in Clause 4 of this Article to undergo consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment; and offer treatment support for those with abnormalities detected through neonatal screening and diagnosis.

8. Organizations, enterprises, and individuals both domestic and foreign are encouraged to invest in establishing and operating facilities providing consultation, screening, prenatal and neonatal diagnosis, and treatment services, and they will enjoy favorable investment policies as per legal regulations.

9. The Minister of Health shall define the list of congenital diseases and disorders to be screened; the contents, procedures, and steps for consultation, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth; and the conditions and responsibilities of facilities providing these services.

10. The Government of Vietnam shall set regulations for financial support to cover screening, prenatal and neonatal diagnosis services for those from poor or near-poor households; social protection beneficiaries; ethnic minorities living in extremely difficult communes; and residents in high-risk areas or those contaminated with dioxin (excluding those already covered by health insurance).

Thus, functional agencies along with the public engage in voluntary consultation and prenatal screening while maintaining personal privacy. The consultation’s content, screening, diagnosis, and treatment before and shortly after birth encompass risks of fetal defects, and congenital abnormalities... with humanitarian aims.

See more regulations at: Draft Population Law 2020

Ngoc Tai

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