Statistics show that the simple and cheap medical check (less than 1 yuan for each child) can help detect many abnormal physical conditions including dangerous kidney conditions. The disease can then be effectively treated at a very early stage.

"The low-cost medical check needs to be widely promoted as a public healthcare programme, because it's very effective in improving children' health and reducing the risk of future high medical costs," said Zheng Shang, deputy director of the Children's Hospital at Fudan University.

Kidney diseases are not uncommon among children over two years old.

According to tests on urine samples provided by 4,341 children aged from two to 14 carried out by Children's Hospital, 1.5 per cent were found to have blood in the urine.

"Since a child's kidney has the ability to repair itself, some diseases don't display very obvious symptoms in the early stage," Zheng said.

Some kidney diseases develop over a long period, even 10 or 20 years when the child is an adult. At that stage, the kidneys are likely to be seriously damaged and the victim's health seriously impaired.

"About five in every 10,000 children in Shanghai are diagnosed as having the potential for developing late-stage kidney failure," Zheng said.

If the children had not undergone the early testing, when they grew up the only way to save their lives would be temporary kidney dialysis or kidney transplants. These painful and expensive treatments cost much more than a regular urine check.

If kidney diseases can be detected in the very early stage, and proper eating habits are followed by children, it's possible to protect the kidney and reduce the risk of chronic kidney failure.

In the case of one kidney disease, Wilm's Tumour, more than 90 per cent of patients are able to live for many years if the disease is detected early but the survival rate drops to less than half when it is found at a later stage.

"From the angle of social economy, the urine sample check can be a great saving in terms of medical resources both for the family and the government," Zheng said.

The annual urine medical check in all primary and middle schools also provides an important medical index for children's health and has become a regular practice in many developed countries such South Korea and the United States.

Dr Zheng submitted the suggestion of annual testing as a proposal to the city's 12th People's Congress last month. She said that the programme would be quite simple for the government to implement.

"Since the stool check is a regular item in all schools, children just bring their urine too," she said.

As medical treatment programmes move towards a medical prevention system, it becomes vital that the government consider putting more investment into health prevention projects.

(Shanghai Star March 18, 2003)