Planning a Baby? Got Your Health Check-Up Done?

As you begin to plan to start a family, there are certain elementary health checks that must be done to ensure you stay healthy and give birth to a healthy baby.

Dr. Uday Thanawala, leading obstetrician and gyanecologist, advises the tests that must be done for you and your partner.

1. Thalassemia status:

Thalassemia Major is a blood disorder, which is genetically transmitted. Babies who have this disorder are anaemic and require repeated blood transfusions to survive. A person carrying the gene may not always manifest the disease and is then known as a thalassemia minor. If husband and wife both have the gene then, there is a 1 in 4 chance that the baby will have thalassemia major. However, prenatal testing can be carried out to ascertain the possibility and a diseased fetus could be aborted, if needed. If one partner has Thalassemia gene and the other doesn't - there is no way the baby can get Thalassemia major. Therefore, a couple must be tested for this disease.

2. Infection status for HIV, Hepatitis B and C:

All these infections are sexually transmitted as well as from an infected mother to her baby. Thus, it is important to know if a person is infected or not. Vaccination is available for hepatitis B to prevent transmission.

3. General Health Check-up:

Haemoglobin (anemia), Blood Sugar (Diabetes), Thyroid screen (TSH test). These are diseases common in our population and may not have specific symptoms so, a preliminary check-up may rule out possibilities of complications during pregnancy.