ANJALI YADAV/Dehradun
The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has stopped approving birth and death certificates submitted by private hospitals after finding that several applications were being received without mandatory supporting documents. The online birth and death registration system has been in place for nearly 10 years. Under the system, hospitals are required to upload details of births and deaths along with the prescribed documents. However, a large number of hospitals had not attached the required documents while submitting applications.
The issue has now raised questions over the records of thousands of birth and death certificates issued through hospitals in the past. The MCD official said that it is unable to verify some of these certificates as the supporting documents are not available in its records.
The corporation has now directed all private hospitals to attach the required documents while applying for registration. The instructions have been sent to hospitals through email. More than 150 private hospitals fall under the MCD area. Details of births and deaths occurring at these hospitals are submitted online to the Registrar of Births and Deaths for approval.
Officials said that a large number of applications are received every day, but hospitals are often uploading the details without the mandatory documents. The absence of supporting documents has also created problems when old birth or death certificates are sent to the MCD for verification in connection with court cases. Officials said that they cannot verify a certificate when there is no corresponding record available with the corporation. This also causes difficulties for family members, who may have to visit the MCD repeatedly. They said that maintaining complete records will make future verification easier and strengthen the authenticity of certificates issued through hospitals.
The chief municipal health officer Dr Anand Kumar Shukla said that“We receive certificates from several places for verification. In the absence of records, it is not appropriate to verify them. All hospitals have now been strictly directed to attach the required documents while applying for birth and death registration so that the MCD can verify the records before approving the certificates. This will also ensure that family members do not have to face unnecessary difficulties,”.
