DNA

Chennai, Dec 1: Metropolis Health Service, a corporate chain of diagnostic services, is in the final stages of entering into an arrangement with leading matrimonial site Bharat Matrimony to provide pre-marital screening for diseases such as HIV, Thalassemia and Hepatitis B.

A couple of years ago, Metropolis discovered that 69 of the 3,074 people screened in Mumbai were HIV+. In Bangalore, 37 of the 1,470 screened were found to have HIV, while 18 of 857 in Kerala tested positive.

“Pre-marital tests have become all the more important since 40 per cent of India’s 5.1m HIV+ people are young,” says Metropolis managing director GSK Velu, adding that 80 per cent of women get infected because they are ignorant of the health status of their husbands.

Bharat Matrimony CEO Murugavel Janakiraman says pre-marital tests are yet to take off in a big way in India, but young working people seem positively inclined to the idea. “We are finalising a tie-up with diagnostic services and it should be operational by early next year. If we can save at least one couple by providing this service, it is good enough,” he says.

Mumbai-based shaadi.com has tied up with the Foundation for Blood Ailments (FBA) primarily to screen clients for Thalassemia. “We provide material on the disorder, risks and also a link to FBA which conducts pre-marital tests for interested clients,” says the site’s spokesperson.