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)