Shanghai Daily news

For many love birds about to get married, deciding whether to take the pre-marital health check requires little thought.
"Why have it?" they ask as they raise their eye brows.
Why? Because it's the best way to ensure your babies won't have birth defects.
But obviously this explanation is not good enough for many. Ever since the voluntary pre-marital health check system replaced the mandatory system in October 2003, there has been a slump in the number of couples who go for the physical.
Last year in Zhejiang Province the proportion of engaged couples who took the health exams plummeted to 1.57 percent from 95 percent in 2003.
In Anhui Province, the number fell to 4.6 percent from 58.7 percent, a provincial record since compulsory pre-marital health exams were first introduced in 1986.
In Guangdong Province, the number fell from 62.4 percent in 2002 to 2.93 percent in 2004.
In accordance with this radical decrease, not surprisingly, is an increase in the number of babies born with defects.
In Zhejiang Province the number climbed to 1.32 percent last year, from 1.15 percent in 2003. That means out of every 10,000 new born babies, an additional 17 are born with undesirable complications.
Under the mandatory system, if either member of a couple planning to marry failed a physical, the couple was advised not to have children.
Experts have warned of an expected increase in babies inheriting diseases from either parent in the next three to five years - all the result of skipping a pre-marital physical.
Guangdong has experienced the consequences of its people avoiding the health check. Out of the 800,000 or so babies born in 2004, nearly 17,000 were born with either anemia, congenital heart disease, an extra digit or water on the brain, compared with 11,000 in 2002.
Considering these appalling statistics, the pre-marital health checks can help screen out a significant number of babies born with defects. So why do these future parents choose not to have the physicals?
The Zhejiang government believes the reason is economic. It has announced it would pay health exam fees.
Nice try, but I doubt it will help. For a province where the annual per capita income is about US$2,400, 85 yuan (US$10) - the fee for the physical - is indeed not something people will be too concerned about. After all, it is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for most.
The real problem lies in the poor service provided by hospitals. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why the compulsory system was abandoned in 2003 is it often brewed incompetence by hospitals. If this is not changed, free meals are not going to bring the nation's future parents back.
The situation is not optimistic. In many cases, the checks during a physical are too basic to be called a "pre-marital health check." Anyone can pay an old man with his measuring machine one yuan to find out their height and weight.
What about blood tests and heart rate monitoring? Annual health checks provided by most companies are sufficient.
What's more, a few unqualified doctors mixed into the bunch have driven young couples away. Some physicians seem to prefer rubber stamping their work than actually doing it. Others stick their noses into unrelated issues, like whether one is a virgin.
If this is what marrying couples get, why would anyone bother? It makes no sense to spend time and money - no matter how little - for nothing, or worse, to be embarrassed.
The key to changing this situation lies in improving pre-marital health check services so the next generation won't be children of misfortune.