Members of the National Committee of the 10th Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
have proposed that marriage registration regulations be amended to
reinstate mandatory premarital health checks.
"The number of premarital health checks has plummeted as China
ended the mandatory practice in the marriage registration
regulation that took effect on October 1, 2003," said Chen Shouyi,
a CPPCC National Committee member and one of the three sponsors of
the proposal, which is being discussed at Thursday's session.
Chen said the situation has led to a distinct rise in the rate
of birth defects and newborn deaths from causes that could have
been detected through premarital health checks and prevented.
The rate of premarital health checks dove to 3.1 percent in 2004
from 98 percent in 2001 in the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang
Province. At the same time, the rate of birth defects shot from
12.6 per thousand births to 19.6 per thousand, according to the
Ministry of Health.
Fewer than 10 percent of engaged couples nationwide underwent
premarital health checks in 2004, with the rate dropping below 1
percent in some areas.
Venereal disease, hepatitis and various hereditary diseases are
found in nearly 3 percent of the premarital checks conducted each
year, said Chen.
In the mid-1990s, east China's Shandong
Province spent more than 500 million yuan (US$60.4 million)
annually on care for children with congenital birth defects.
"It's apparent that the health of the newborn has an impact on
the medical burden of the society," said Zhao Suqin, a deputy to
the 10th National People's Congress (NPC),
China's legislature.
Chen's proposal calls for the restoration of the premarital
health check requirement in the marriage registration regulations,
but also calls for reducing or exempting fees for disadvantaged
groups and phasing in free checks nationwide.
Standards for those administering the examinations should also
be improved, according to the proposal.
"The marriage registration regulation, which took effect in
2003, is designed to respect individual privacy," said Chen, "but
the rise in the number of birth defects also deserves
attention."
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2005)