'e-transfer'of birth certificates begins in City

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has introduced ‘e-transfer’, a first-of-its-kind initiative that hastens issue of birth certificates. Similarly, death certificates can be obtained by blood relatives of the deceased within three days.

This move will allow parents to get digitally signed birth certificates at Palike-registered hospitals on the same day of the birth. Around 1,480 private hospitals in the City have already been given passwords and hospital staff are being trained in software handling and data transmission. The certificates will also be available at 90 BangaloreOne centres.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Joint Director for Statistics of Palike, Shankarappa, said: “The online registration system available on the Palike website was earlier limited to the civic agency, but now it has been extended to hospitals. Hospital authorities can access the portal and enter details through the unique password given to them by the Palike. The details entered would be verified by Palike officials and the event is registered immediately at the registration centres.”

He further said centres will take out the first copy print of the certificate and send it to hospitals, through the e-transfer server. The certificates will then be issued to parents before they leave hospitals and clear the bills, he added.

Shankarappa maintained that on a pilot basis, the software was being used at some   hospitals such as Manipal Hospital, MS Ramaiah Hospital, Sagar Apollo, among others for the last one and a half years. Directions have been issued to all the hospitals coming under Palike limits to issue certificates using the new facility. Each certificate is preprinted with a serial number, State and Central governments emblems, 24-digit security code and a BBMP emblem watermark to prevent the misuse of the certificates, he added.

Registration centres

Palike Commissioner M Lakshminarayana who was present at the meet, said: “The BBMP is the first in India to introduce the issue of birth and death certificate with digital signatures at hospitals. There are a total of 27 registration centres in the City. Apart from that, five major hospitals such as Vanivilas Women and Children Hospital, Victoria Hospital, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, Gosha Hospital and KC General Hospital have been declared registration Centres.”

The commissioner added that even a foreign national staying in the city could avail the facility. “In the BBMP area around 1.6 lakh birth events and around 50,000 deaths events are being registered every year,” he said.

The online registration system will be available to hospitals on the website- http://sasbbmp.com/birthdeath.