Couples encouraged to get check-ups ( 2003-09-04 07:15) (China Daily)
The Ministry of Health said yesterday it would
continue to encourage couples to get medical check-ups before tying the knot,
despite the introduction of a new legislation meaning this is no longer
compulsory.
The new regulation, which aims to simplify the registration process, has been
approved by the State Council and will come into effect on October 1.
Couples were previously required to undergo compulsory medicals if they
wanted to get married.
The move is socially progressive and shows improved respect for human rights
given that the new regulation has turned the mandatory pre-marital physical
check-up into a voluntary action, the spokesman said.
A statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday said that a pre-marital
physical check-up would still be helpful to a couple's future family life in
order to detect severe hereditary diseases, communicable diseases and mental
illness.
Medical departments giving such check-ups should provide high quality and
personalized services and should respect people's privacy, the statement said.
Wu Changzhen, a marriage law expert with the China University of Politics and
Law, said that cancellation of mandatory physical check-ups does not mean that
premarital physical check-ups have been banned.
"I encourage couples to take a physical check-up before marriage because it
helps to guarantee a healthier birth in the future,'' Wu said.
A person should know about any health problems that their partner has before
they start a family, she said.
A leading professor of marriage and family law claimed that there were no
legal ground for the cancellation of pre-marriage physical check-ups.
"The so-called cancellation of the check-ups is a kind of misunderstanding of
the newly enacted regulation on marriage registration,'' said Yang Dawen, a
professor with the Law School of Renmin University of China.
The regulation does not stipulate whether the couples should undergo physical
check-ups before marriage registration.
But the result of the check-ups is not listed as required documents that
couples should present to marriage registrar to get the certificate.
Yang said the absence of a clear stipulation in the regulation does not mean
the check-ups will be cancelled.
The Law on Mother and Infant Healthcare stipulate that couples should undergo
physical check-ups before getting married.
Yang said the law, which was passed by the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress in 1994, is superior to the regulation and enforcement of this
law should prevail.
The law says that the governments of provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities should work out their own regulations on pre-marriage physical
check-ups.
The Beijing Health Bureau recently said that it will enforce the law on
mother and infant healthcare until it is amended or abolished.
But it is known that some hospitals use the check-up service to make money by
usually providing nominal and less than reliable test results.
He Peng, a 30-year-old Beijing resident who got married last year, said
physical check-ups before marriage are nothing but a waste time.
"I waited in a long queue to get the check-up, spending almost an entire day
to get a stamp on a medical document,'' he said.
It seems many people agree with He's viewpoint as many hospitals designated
to conduct pre-marital checkup have seen fewer clients than several months ago.
An anonymous doctor with the Beijing Gynaecology and Obstetrics Hospital told
China Daily yesterday that the number of couples getting check-up there had
rapidly reduced last month, less than half number in July.
Many couples who are preparing to tie the knot admitted that they have
postponed their marriage date till October 1 so they do not have to go through
with the compulsory check-up.
The new regulation stipulates that people with either serious dementia or
aggressive psychosis cannot get married.
However, both diseases can be easily recognized without any medical checkups,
said Zhang Mingliang, director of the Department of Construction of Basic Level
Government and Communities under the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Generally speaking, there is no medical reason that should disqualify people
from marriage, even they are HIV/AIDS carriers, Zhang said.