A 16-month-old baby in Macau who had been fed with Nestle baby formula produced in mainland China was confirmed to suffer from kidney stones yesterday.
According to the Health Bureau (SSM) press statement, the infant was found by a private laboratory to have kidney stones and afterwards was taken to Conde de São Januário Central Hospital for a urine test, ultrasound and bladder scanning for confirmation.
The baby is now being taken care of at the paediatrics ward.
The Nestle baby formula for one year-olds or above, produced in mainland China's Heilongjiang, was revealed by the Hong Kong media last week as containing melamine.
The SSM has taken the powder the baby was using as well as other formulas of the same brand for further testing.
Parents who have been feeding or used to feed their children with the same formula were urged to take their children for health checks at nearby health centres.
On the other hand, health centres have already started sending medical staff to schools with no stationed doctors for conducting tests on those 10,000 students who participated in the milk program last year.
It was estimated that about 1,000 students can have their urine tested every day and to date 774 children had received urine dipstick tests.
Of which, 27 students have been sent to receive urine sediment microscope screening and 11 of them had completed the procedures.
At this stage six students have then been arranged to receive ultrasound screening and three of them had finished the tests with no signs of kidney stones were found, the SSM said.
The health department said students who failed in the urine dipstick tests did not necessarily mean their kidneys have problems as the results could be affected by other urinary system diseases such as infections, tuberculosis, dehydration or vulva inflammation.
To date, the SSM said 295 children had been taken by parents to hospitals or transferred by health centres for urine tests.
Of which, 14 needed to receive the urine sediment microscope screening and four of them had completed the checks without needing to undertake further testing.
In addition, as of September 23 the SSM hotline had received 126 calls of inquiries and complaints. Eighty of them inquired about urine tests while 43 related to concerns of dairy products.
According to TDM news, the SSM began the health checks yesterday by sending three nurses to Chan Sui Ki Perpetual Help College in Estrada da Vitoria where 120 second year primary school students from three classes had their urine tested.
The health centre in Areia Preta also said that they had conducted the same test for about 80 students in Hoi Fai School in the Border Gate area, TDM said.