Bengal to make blood tests mandatory for marriage

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India News: West Bengal: Bengal to make blood tests mandatory for

marriage

Kolkata, Nov 24

West Bengal is set to make blood tests mandatory for marriage to rein

in the rising number of thalassaemia and AIDS cases.

According to state Law Minister Nisith Adhikary, a new law is in the

offing to make it binding on all people considering marriage to

undergo blood tests.

" We will try to make changes to present laws governing marriages to

make blood tests of would-be brides and grooms an absolute must, "

Adhikary said.

The amendment could be introduced in the next session of the state

assembly.

The tests would check the bride and groom for thalassaemia, AIDS and

hepatitis-B. The government has agreed to make blood tests mandatory

after consistent lobbying by voluntary health organisations.

West Bengal has about 65,000 thalassaemia-affected children, the

highest in the country. About 13 percent of the state's population

carries this disease.

Thalassaemia is a hereditary and genetic disorder transmitted through

symptom-less parents. When two carriers marry, there is a one-in-four

chance the babies born to them would inherit the abnormal gene from

both parents and suffer from severe anaemia, resulting in premature

death.

Curiously, if one of the partners is a thalassaemia carrier, there is

no danger to the child born to such parents.

Continuous blood transfusion is the only effective way to combat the

disease, but the high costs involved put the process beyond the reach

of middle-class families.

Legislation making blood tests mandatory among marrying couples would

help identify carriers of the disease and this " small precaution can

avoid a life-long misery " .

Adhikary said once the new law is enacted, blood test reports of both

partners in a marriage would be as mandatory as a marriage

certificate.

A movement working to eradicate thalassaemia feels in a democratic

society one cannot prevent marriage between two carriers. But pre-

marriage blood screening can alert the bride and groom to their fate.

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