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Pre-marital checkups

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-25 07:48

It's time to offer free premarital physical checks for newly weds to prevent the rise of defective babies, says an article on the website www.rednet.cn. The following is an excerpt:

The abolition of compulsory pre-marital physical checks in China is posing a great threat to the quality of the population.

Zhejiang province recently took the lead to adopt free physical checks before marriage or pregnancy. This new policy will benefit 1.2 million people in Zhejiang thanks to annual investment of about 120 million yuan by local treasuries.

After China called off compulsory premarital physical checks to simplify marital procedures, more and more newly-weds have married without seeing doctors, resulting in a large rise in the number of newly born babies with defects. This free check has set a good example for other provinces.

But we should note that some refuse to receive the physical checks not because of money but because of privacy. So, Zhejiang should also take measures to protect the privacy of those newly weds.

(China Daily 02/25/2009 page8)