The Gujarat government will launch the Atal Sneh scheme, to facilitate testing new borns for birth defects, on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on December 25. The Vijay Rupani administration said the scheme will include visits from a team of doctors, female health workers and officials from the child protection department at government and private nursing homes to examine the babies.

The chief minister made the announcement during an annual school health check-up drive that includes almost 1.5 crore schoolchildren in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar. Rupani said the scheme aimed at detecting major health problems including neural tube defects, cleft lip, club foot, congenital heart diseases and Down’s syndrome, to address them in the initial stages.

Infants diagnosed with any ailment will be regularly monitored, while those in need of medical treatment will be referred to better facilities, PTI reported.