Bengaluru: Pre-marital health screening is catching on among young couples in Bengaluru, with some city hospitals claiming to receive at least 40 such requests a month of late. The couples, who come forward for it, want to know whether or not their gene pools match and make sure they have healthy children, say doctors.
Dr. Shabnam Brahmesh of the internal medicine and health check department at Apollo Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road explains that pre-marital screening helps identify the potential health risks for both the couple and their offspring.
Totally backing the idea, she says it is crucial for soon-to-be-married couples to opt for such screening to understand their genetics and help them take the necessary precautions or treatment for both their sakes and their unborn children.
The couples are tested for genetic, infectious and transmissible diseases, to prevent their transmission to each other and their children. While the trend is growing and is supported by doctors, not everybody is comfortable with the idea as it could invite possible social stigmatism and throws up the prospect of marital alliances breaking up .
But emphasising the importance of pre-marital health screening, Dr. Ashutosh Vashista, consultant, family medicine and health checks, at Narayana Health City, points out that going by an estimate of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare over eight crore people in the country could be suffering from a genetic condition and every year almost half a million children are born with genetic malformations.
He also notes that a WHO report has revealed that in India’s urban areas, congenital malformations and genetic disorders are the third most common cause of mortality in newborns. “The most common genetic disorders identified in the Indian ethnicity are thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy, haemophilia A and sickle cell anaemia. But now with increased awareness, adults are beginning to opt for a complete health check-up to make sure their offspring and partners don’t fall prey to such disease,” he adds with satisfaction.
