Medical experts said lack of awareness about the importance of premarital checkups is causing birth deformity rates to rise.

The deputy director of Jing'an district population and family planning commission Chen Yunshan warned that if the government fails to take measures, it could lead to an even more serious public health problem in the next three to five years.

Currently, the average annual birth defect rate in China is from 4 to 6 percent. In Shanghai, it is 0.93 percent, meaning about 1,000 infants are born with birth defects every year.

Wan Jiangmin, vice president of the association for improving birth outcomes and child development in Shanghai, said some genetic disease carriers have no idea they are carriers, because many diseases can only be detected through checkups.

"Couples might find this a prime opportunity to seek advice on these issues," Wang told China Daily.

On October 1, 2003, China abolished compulsory premarital checkups. At that time, the move was widely applauded as indicative of a greater respect for the right of privacy.

However, the number of couples going for checkups subsequently dropped sharply.

According to medical experts, the rates in Shanghai plummeted from 98 percent to the current 24 percent.

Major cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou began offering free checkups, and Heilongjiang Province even resumed the compulsory system.

Shanghai's Jing'an District this year launched a free premarital checkup service for couples at a cost of 1.5 million yuan, becoming the first among Shanghai's 18 districts to provide the service for these couples.

Chen said the number of new couples registering for the checkups has increased since January. About 97 percent of new couples registered in the district expressed interest in the free service.

"Providing free medical checkups will definitely encourage more people to take the tests," Chen said. "People's privacy can still be guaranteed, as the consultation is done in an isolated room."

However, these medical checkups have raised some concerns among experts.

"Many young people fear their partners will leave them once they are diagnosed with a disease, so they refuse to undergo any medical checkups," Wang said.

(China Daily March 20, 2008)