India, April 26 -- India's states are often criticised for chronically underinvesting in health. Yet, Delhi has long stood apart, consistently allocating one of the highest proportions of its budget to the health sector. In the latest state budget, one of the key announcements is the launch of the Advanced Newborn Monitoring for Optimal Lifecare (ANMOL) initiative - a programme that proposes to conduct as many as 56 blood tests on every newborn.

At first glance, this appears to be a bold decision. The proposed panel includes conditions such as congenital hypothyroidism, phenylketonuria, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, G6PD deficiency, galactosemia, biotinidase deficiency, cystic fibrosis, and a range of metabolic and genetic disorders. S...