Pre-nuptial tests outlined in handbook

Rym Ghazal

• Last Updated: October 24. 2009 12:55AM UAE / October 23. 2009 8:55PM GMT

A handbook listing the pre-nuptial medical tests and check-ups that people have to take before entering into a marriage has been jointly released by the Ministry of Health and the Marriage Fund Corporation.

The booklet is part of a series of projects put together by the two government institutions after Dr Hanif Hassan Ali, Minister of Health, and Dr Maitha al Shamsi, Minister of State and chairwoman of the Marriage Fund, signed a memorandum of understanding in June. Sixty-thousand copies of the book will be distributed through both ministries and also made available in clinics and medical centres, the government news agency WAM reported yesterday.

It will also be given to new couples applying for a Marriage Fund.

Dr Mahmoud Fekri, the executive director for health policy affairs, said the handbook was in line with a personal affairs law of 2005, Article 27, in which it is stated that medical tests are compulsory before marriage for anyone wanting to wed in the UAE.

The medical report must be presented before a marriage contract can be finalised and both parties have to be clear of all the diseases listed in the handbook.

These include inherited blood disorders such as beta thalassemia and sickle-cell anaemia; contagious diseases; and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C.

In March 2008, the MoH began providing services for pre-marriage tests through nine medical centres across the UAE.



rghazal@thenational.ae