Birth, death certificates to be issued online

When Primary Health Centres go in for e-administration, there certainly are advantages for the common man. If the well-laid out plans of the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) fructify, birth and death certificates will soon be available online.

Seeking to seamlessly integrate the civil registration functions into its primary health unit, the DPH hopes to facilitate the evolution of the PHC as a one-stop shop for villagers. With the online registration system, certificates can be downloaded via the Internet and printed at one’s convenience from any computer.

However, this will be preceded by a more basic service through which birth certificates will be delivered by the staff (who will liaise with revenue officials) to mothers before they leave the PHC. In effect, this move will provide villagers the same benefits that people in the cities and towns are already enjoying. Parents of children born in government hospitals in cities and towns are now spared the trouble of going through the process of getting a birth certificate. Hospital staff themselves are required to procure the documents with attestation from revenue officials and hand them over to the parents before the mothers are discharged.

When this was implemented on a trial basis in PHCs in Kanyakumari district, birth certificates were provided in three days, according to Director of Public Health S. Elango.

In a unique experiment, Health Inspectors of PHCs were designated birth and death registrars, who will issue certificates.

“For deliveries in Corporation or other Government Hospitals in the Chennai city limits, we have ensured that the birth certificates are handed over within 24 hours or if there is a delay, the document is delivered at home,” Rajesh Lakhoni, Corporation Commissioner, said.

The civil registration system will go online first in the city. Once active, hospitals will provide inputs about the birth to the Corporation’s birth registrar, who will validate the facts and put the information online in the set format, attested with a digital signature. “People can download this from any computer and print it out,” Mr. Lakhoni said.

Dr. Elango said the former Director of Public health P. Padmanabhan had held discussions with the Revenue Administration department to tie up with village-level revenue and panchayat officials to facilitate easy birth and death registration at PHCs.

Software developed by the National Informatics Centre will enable downloading of forms and certificates online with digital attestations. A print out could be taken at the PHC and handed over to the mothers or relatives.