The Hindu : Front Page : Poor response to online birth/death registration

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Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009
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Poor response to online birth/death registration

K.V. Prasad

Photo: M. Periasamy.

QUITE SIMPLE: The online birth registration facility of the Coimbatore Corporation. —

COIMBATORE: Dismayed over the poor response to the facility for online registration of birth and death in its limits, the Coimbatore Corporation is looking at ways to popularise the system. Establishing a network between the Corporation and private hospitals and reaching out to the public through the media are some of the options that the civic body is working on.

Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra wants the health officials of the civic body to examine all options to increase online registration so that people do not have to queue up at the Corporation’s offices. The online facility will also eliminate touts who make money by providing application forms and by using the delay in the manual system. The Corporation gets only two to three online applications a month after spending huge sums on e-governance, which includes birth and death registration.

Assistant City Health Officer R. Sumathi says this poor response continues despite the figures of 45-55 births and 19 to 22 deaths a day in the city. “The response should be at least 50 registrations. But, we expect at least 15 to 20 a day (both birth and death),” she says.

The system works this way: people can fill up online the form that is available on the Corporation’s website and the certificate is sent home by value payable post within three days.

The applicants have to pay Rs.64 for two copies. They have to approach the Corporation offices only if extra copies are needed.

Birth and death registration has been computerised since 1996. Manual records from 1986 to 1996 have been computerised at Rs.5 lakh.

While telling the public to use their computers and internet facility at home for online registration is one approach, the other is to establish a link between all private hospitals and the Corporation’s online facility. They can be given a password for the link.

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