As marriage registration offices in China brace for the usual holiday rush ahead of May Day, health authorities are worried about a drastic decline in numbers having premarital physical checkups.

Since China made these checks of reproductive health non-compulsory in 2003, fewer and fewer people have been choosing to have them, with many regions reporting a corresponding increase in birth defects.

Beijing resident Zhu Hongfang and her boyfriend will be tying the knot this holiday season, but a premarital checkup is not on their agenda. "I can't see the necessity, since we have been going to the checkups organized by our employers once a year and we are both healthy," Zhu said.P The premarital checkup rate in Beijing had fallen to under 7 percent in 2014, according to Xi Shuyan, an official with the Beijing municipal health and family planning commission.

Statistics for Guangzhou City in the southern province of Guangdong also show that just seven percent of people there got a premarital checkup in 2011.

Meanwhile, as well as increased birth defects, there has been a higher rate of diseases found in premarital checkups since 2003.

In 1996, 5 percent of people taking premarital checkups in Beijing were found to have diseases, while the rate increased to around 13 percent in 2014.

Statistics from Guangdong Province show that 2.76 percent of newborns in cities in the Pearl River Delta were found to have birth defects in 2011, roughly double the percentage in 2001.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, about 900,000 babies are born with mental or physical disabilities every year in China.

Xi said some diseases have a great influence on marriage and childbirth,not only affecting the health of the couple but also causing infertility or birth defects.

"Although the rise in birth defects rate is a result of multiple causes, the drop in premarital checkups is an important one," she said.

Beijing has been providing premarital checkups for over 30 years. The service has been free for people with a permanent resident permit since 2006.

Geng Yutian, deputy director of the Beijing municipal health and family planning commission, said authorities should improve services during premarital checkups and use publicity to raise awareness of their importance.

Source: XINHUA