Ji Lianmei, a doctor at Beijing United Family Healthcare, said that the checkups provide better knowledge of a couple's health and can identify potential birth defects. Every year, around 800,000 to 1 million babies are born with defects or illnesses, such as cardiac problems in China.
"The statistics only record defects in very early infancy. But some defects don't show up until the child is aged 5 or 6 years, so the real number is likely to be even higher than that indicated by the official statistics," said Ji.
Most people in Beijing have a free physical checkup every year, which they believe plays the same role as the premarital checkup, said Ji, to explain the low rate of premarital checks in the city. She added that heavy workloads mean many people are unwilling to spend their free time on the checks.
The rise in the number of birth defects has resulted in calls for the reinstatement of mandatory premarital checks. Some municipal health authorities have decided to promote a one-stop premarital medical checkup to encourage more people to voluntarily undergo the examinations.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, had resumed mandatory testing. Although the reports turned out to be untrue, they helped trigger a heated debate. Seventy-two percent of those who responded to an opinion poll conducted by Sina Weibo, China's most prominent microblogging site, were in favor of a return to mandatory testing.
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