Dubai: Mandatory premarital testing for genetic and sexually transmitted diseases for all residents is working and the number of couples being tested is going up steadily, according to the Ministry of Health.

Last year more than 18,000 people tested for the diseases, the Ministry said on Monday.

A senior doctor said the UAE's goal was to create "happy, healthy families".

Dr Mona Al Kuwari, director of primary health care at the Ministry said the number of people tested has gone up by more than 4000 since 2008 when the law came into force.

"Anybody who wishes to get married in the UAE has to undergo these tests," she said. A marriage certificate is not issued without showing that these tests have been done, doctors said.

Dubai has become not only a tourist hub but a magnet for people wanting to get married here. Many expatriates born and raised in the UAE also prefer to get married here.

Counselling

A doctor at a testing laboratory commended the UAE for taking this step as the number of marriages taking place between cousins had gone up sharply. "Marriages among relatives has shot to 51 per cent within a single generation," said Dr Sajida Ahmad, director research at Eastern Biotech and Life Sciences.

The lab also offers counselling services to couples who are found positive.

Consanguinity or marriage between close relatives is common in the UAE and in the sub-continent and can lead to genetic disorders in the children of such unions. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachan is one celebrity who is a carrier of thalassaemia, as is his son Abhishek. Tennis champ Pete Sampras and footballer Zinedine Zidane are also carriers.

Dr Ahmad said there was a 25 per cent chance of children becoming carriers of the blood disorder if both the parents were carriers.

The director of the UAE Genetic Disease Association has told Gulf News counselling is provided to couples who are carriers.

Need to know: Screening

Pre-marital screening investigates the following:

- Beta-thalassaemia

- Sickle cell anaemia

- Blood grouping and RH factorn Infectious and sexually transmitted diseases

-  HIV/Aids

- Hepatitis B, C

- Syphilis

Also: German Measles (Rubella) Screening mandatory in the UAE for all since 2008