Pre-marital HIV test for UAE expats soon

Dubai, Dec 26: Expatriates living in the UAE may soon have toundergo compulsory pre-nuptial medical tests before getting married.

A top health official at the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in AbuDhabi that the ministry has prepared a draft bill to make it compulsoryfor both nationals and expatriates to go through pre-nuptial tests.

At present, it is mandatory only for nationals to undergo thetests for HIV/Aids, hepatitis B and sexually transmitted diseases, as aprerequisite for getting married.

Once endorsed, the federal law will make it compulsory for bothnationals and expatriates to also undergo medical tests for geneticdiseases, namely thalassaemia and sickle cell anemia, in addition tothe aforesaid tests, the official told the Khaleej Times daily.

The move aims at checking the spread of genetic diseases, whichhave registered a sharp increase in the country in the last few years.

UNI