The registration hiccups that persist

Wespite the recent changes to speed up the birth and death registration process, there are people who find it tough to get a certificate on time. Sushant K, a resident of Jayanagar, is one of them.

He had to make many rounds to the BBMP offices to get a death certificate in the name of his grandmother, who expired recently. “The hospital staff gave me the certificate required for the cremation and following that, I had to approach BBMP to get a death certificate. But it took some time as I learnt that there was a shortage of Form-2,required for issual of death certificate,” he recalls.

Prabhu Kumar, a resident of Banasha­nkari might hope the changes had come up a few years earlier. He had then appro­ached the registration office to correct his wife’s name in his son’s birth certificate. At the office, he was asked to get a correction letter from the hospital and other documents. “But it did not end there. I was asked to go to some other place. Eventually, it took almost six months to get the certificate.”

Hospitals blame the public for the delay, as mistakes are made while filling the forms. The staff at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital maintain that they issue around 15-20 birth and death certificates every day. However due to the mistakes in certificates such as spelling errors in name, birth date, father’s name among others, the issual of certificates is held up.

The hospital's Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Dr Prasanna Kumar adds that on an average, five to ten birth certificate applications are filled with name errors everyday. “To apply for a birth certificate, one needs to bring in passport, address proof, ration cards, among others. While filling the form-1 for births, people make a lot of mistakes, especially in names. While in ration cards, their names are spelled differently in address proof it is something else. Hence, problems persist,” says the RMO.

However, there is some respite now. Reason: The recently introduced e-transfer of birth certificates, which ensures that digitally signed birth certificates can be procured at the Palike registered hospitals by the parents on the same day of birth, and death certificate could be obtained within three days.


REGISTRATION NUMBERS

1,60,000

Every year, as many as 1.6 lakh births are recorded in all the private, government and BBMP hospitals spread across the Palike limits.

50,000

The number of deaths registered in the BBMP limits every year from various
causes has been estimated to be about 50,000

1,489

BBMP has given unique passwords to 1,489 private hospitals to provide birth / death details online, and also trained the hospital staff