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Mongol birth cost report
There was a clear-cut
economic advantage in testing
all women over the age of 40
and terminating pregnancies
which would produce rnon
gols, compared to. allowing
those children to be born alive
and cared for in institutions,
a medical council was told in
Canberra yesterday.
Figures in part of a report
presented'to the National Health
and Medical Research Council
yesterdy showed that it would cost
$384,000 to test all women 40 and
over. The cost per mongol requir
ing continuing care in an in
stitution with major facilities was
$96,000 to $160,000.
However, in reaching the right
decision about the implementation
of such a public health measure,
there was clearly more to consider
than had been outlined in the re
port, the NHMRC was told.
The number of laboratories
would need to be substantially in
creased even to cope with up to
4,000 tests on women over 40 and
it would take time to train person
nel.
The report said there could be
debate about the desirability of
pressing a test like intrauterine
diagnosis (which carried about a
one per cent risk of causing
abortion) on women who were not
requesting such a procedure.
At present it seemed desirable
to make the test available to
women over 40 who would desire
its use and to allow the demand to
grow with increasing education
and awareness.
Figures in the report showed
than in 1972 two per cent of chil
dren born to women 45 and over
and one per cent of those born to
women aged 40 and 44, were
mongols, compared with 0.3 per
cent for women aged 35 and 39.
There were 350 to 400 mongoJ
births in Australia each year.
The report was fron-. a working
party of the maternal health com
mittee of the NHMRC , which,
since 1937, has been responsible
for advising the Ministers for
Health in the Australian and State
Governments on matters relating
to medical and dental care, public
health and medical research.
It was presented to the 79th ses
sion of the NHMRC which con-'
eluded yesterday at the CSIRO
Campbell.
Leading Seaman Rex Nixon, 27, of Adelaide, and Leading Seaman Eri Joseph, 26, of Papua New Guinea, with the sea eagle sculpture which the RAN gave to PNG on Thursday in a ceremony in which the naval base HMAS Tarangau, at Lobrum Point, on Los Negros Island, near Manus Island, was handed over to . PNG. Lobrum will be the base for PNG Defence Force patrol boats. Help
Leading Seaman Rex Nixon, 27, of Adelaide, and Leading Seaman Eri Joseph,
26, of Papua New Guinea, with the sea eagle sculpture which the RAN gave to
PNG on Thursday in a ceremony in which the naval base HMAS Tarangau, at
Lobrum Point, on Los Negros Island, near Manus Island, was handed over to
. PNG. Lobrum will be the base for PNG Defence Force patrol boats.
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