Ras Al Khaimah: The Ministry of Health has refused to accept a number of pre-marriage medical tests conducted at private medical centres here and announced that only tests conducted at listed government medical centres will be recognised.
Dr Nora Al Suwaidi, who heads the executive committee for pre-marriage medical testing at the Ministry of Health, said many Emiratis have been going to private centres for the tests, contrary with regulations issued by the Ministry of Health.
Dr Al Suwaidi was speaking yesterday at a workshop on procedures for pre-marriage medical tests for staff members in the RAK medical district and women at Al Nahda Women's Association.
She stressed that the Ministry of Health is keen to ensure pre-marriage medical tests are conducted at medical centres of the ministry and those of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Medical authorities.
"The pre-marriage medical tests conducted at private centres are incomplete and do not test for all the required diseases," she said.
She added tests conducted at private centres are sometimes inaccurate, whereas medical tests conducted at public medical centres are more accurate.
She said the national programme for pre-marriage medical testing has noble goals and aims at protecting the family and future generations from potential dangers.
Complaints
She added that the well-designed program reduced the possibility of physical defects by 60 per cent and totally eliminates hereditary illnesses.
The Ministry of Health is currently working on increasing the number of recognised government medical centres in the various emirates, with a special focus on remote areas, to give people there full access to these centres.
Dr Al Suwaidi said that the ministry has received several complaints about the limited number of recognised medical centres eligible to run pre-marriage medical tests and that the ministry is about to increase the number of these centres.
This will also help reduce overcrowding.
She said the second phase of the national project, to increase the number of centres, will involve the opening of medical centres in remote areas, to spare people in those areas the hassle of having to travel to urban centres.
