A law maker yesterday proposed compulsory pre-marital physical checkups be restored through legislation or government decree, stressing the issue concerns family life and the nation's population quality.

Defects in newborns and infections between husband and wife have been increasing since compulsory pre-marriage physical examinations were abolished in 2003, triggering growing calls for the restoration of the practice.

"The restoration of compulsory pre-marital physical examinations not only concerns the happy life of families and the healthy growth of their children, but also the population quality of the whole nation and social harmony and stability," said Tong Haibao, a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

The 2003 regulations on marriage registration put an end to the requirement for certificate of pre-marital physical checkups before registration. Since then the number of people undergoing the physical examination has dropped drastically nationwide.

In Beijing's Xuanwu District Hospital for the Protection of Woman and Children's Health, only 702 people underwent pre-marital examination in 2004, about the same number as took an exam each month in 2003.

Nationwide, only 10 percent of newlyweds had the examination in 2004, and the rate in some places was as low as one percent.

The abolition of compulsory pre-marital physical examinations has been harmful, Tong said.

He said 8.79 million people underwent pre-marital physical checkups in 2001, of which 140,000 were diagnosed with infectious diseases, including more than 20,000 cases of sexually transmitted diseases, 84 HIV carriers or AIDS patients, and 6,500 cases of inherited diseases.