The Ministry of Health has just issued a Guideline on professional content for periodic health check-ups for children under 6 years old, which requires children to have health check-ups at least once a year to comprehensively monitor physical and mental development and detect early disease risks, especially the risk of autism spectrum disorders.
According to the new guidelines, the content of periodic health checks includes checking vital signs, assessing nutritional status, physical, mental and motor development; assessing vaccination status; full-body and organ examinations such as skin, head - neck, eyes, ears, nose, throat, teeth, respiratory system, cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, neurological and genital organs.
Notably, children aged 16 to 30 months will be screened for the risk of autism through a set of specialized multiple-choice questions, helping to detect early abnormal signs for timely intervention.
The Ministry of Health stipulates that each examination chain needs to have at least one doctor in charge of children's health check-ups, along with doctors, nurses or midwives to measure basic indicators such as weight, height, temperature, heart rate and a support staff member. All staff participating in the check-up must be trained or fully informed about the periodic health check-up process for children.
Examination sessions can be organized at commune and ward health stations, mobile examination points or qualified public and private medical examination and treatment facilities. Minimum equipment includes scales, height measurers, thermometers, stethoscopes, five-sense examination kits, reflective hammers and tools to support assessing the mental and motor development of children.
In addition to the current examination, the doctor will exploit the child's health history from birth, and record the health status of the mother during pregnancy. If abnormal signs or diseases requiring treatment are detected, the child will be advised to be transferred to a suitable medical facility for early intervention.
The Ministry of Health also requires that the results of children's periodic health check-ups must be updated in electronic health records, and at the same time linked with specialized medical databases and health insurance assessment information systems as prescribed.
Along with the new guidelines, the Ministry of Health issued a reference table for assessing mental and motor development for children under 6 years old by age group, creating a basis for monitoring children's development in a scientific and unified manner nationwide. This is expected to help detect early health, nutrition and psychological development problems, contributing to improving the quality of childcare right from the early years of life.
