A Chinese lawmaker on Wednesday proposed that compulsory
pre-marital physical checkup be restored through legislation or
government decree, stressing it concerns family life and the
nation's population quality.
Defects in newborns and infection of diseases between husband
and wife have been increasing since compulsory pre-marital physical
examination was abolished after new regulations on marriage
registration were introduced in 2003, triggering growing calls for
the restoration of the practice from the circles of
intellectuals.
"The restoration of compulsory pre-marital physical examination
not only concerns the happy life of families and the healthy growth
of their children, but also the population quality of the whole
nation and social harmony and stability," said Tong Haibao, a
deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top
legislature.
The 2003 regulations on marriage registration put an end to the
requirement for certificate of pre-marital physical checkup before
registration. Since then the number of people undergoing the
physical examination has dropped drastically nationwide.
In Beijing's Xuanwu District Hospital for the Protection of
Woman and Child Health, only 702 people came for pre-marital
physical examination in the whole year of 2004, and the figure was
almost the monthly average in 2003. Nationwide, there was only 10
percent of the newlyweds had the examination in 2004, and the rate
in some places was as low as one percent.
The abolition of compulsory pre-marital physical examination
really brings harm, Tong said in an interview with Xinhua.
Citing statistics of the Ministry of Health, he said that a
total of 8.79 million people had pre-marital physical checkups in
2001, and among them, 140,000 were found to suffer from infectious
diseases, including more than 20,000 cases of sexually transmitted
diseases, 84 HIV carriers or AIDS patients, and 6,500 cases of
inherited diseases.
"Without the requirement for compulsory pre-marital physical
examination, we have seen increasing cases of defects in newborns
and infection of diseases between husband and wife, which also led
to the estrangement between couples or even divorce," Tong
said.
He called on the NPC to restore compulsory pre-marital physical
checkup through legislation or instruct the State Council, or
cabinet, to revise the regulations on marriage registration for
this purpose.
(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2007)