Two Dunedin people have been appointed to the governance team for the national newborn metabolic screening programme (NMSP), following a review of its protocols in recent years.
Health law specialist Dr Fiona McCrimmon has been appointed legal adviser and Kerry Adams is a midwifery representative on the group, which replaces the previous advisory group.
The programme collects droplets of newborns' blood to check them for metabolic disorders.
Programme protocols, and the decision to store the cards permanently, were announced this year following a 2007 public consultation and years of sometimes contentious discussion behind closed doors.
Others on the team are: Newborn metabolic screening technical expert Dr Bridget Wilcken, consumer representative John Forman (of the New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders), public health physician Dr Gary Jackson, paediatricians Drs Paul Hofman and Julian Vyas, chemical pathologist Dr Richard Mackay, geneticist Dr Joanne Dixon, Maori adviser Deb Rowe, Pacific adviser Prof Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, NMSP metabolic physician Dr Callum Wilson and NMSP director Dr Dianne Webster. The Commissioner for Children representative position is vacant.
