E-birth certificate process bares private info, has other issues, say doctors

MUMBAI: A digitization drive has reportedly led to a delay in issuance of birth certificates across the state, including Mumbai.

At the heart of the problem is a new portal for birth registrations by the Registrar General & Census Commissioner for four states, including Maharashtra, operational since last month. While the aim is eventually to enable new parents to download their child's birth certificate at the click of a mouse, obstetricians who have to fill up the birth details online are vexed with the new site.

For initial few days, the new site failed to open. When this was fixed, doctors failed to get OTPs on registered mobiles. Other complaints include poor online Marathi translation and privacy concerns over upload of the mother's discharge papers.

"Earlier, we had to physically fill up a form and upload it. Now, we have to fill in details online and the process isn't smooth,'' said a doctor from Mumbai.

While details are typed online, it is automatically translated into Marathi. "But the Marathi translation has a lot of errors,'' said another doctor.

A senior doctor said uploading a woman's discharge paper with her medical details is a privacy concern. "She may not want details online, however safe the site may seem at the moment,'' he said.

BMC and state health officials admitted many doctors have complaints. "We have conveyed the privacy issue to central authorities,'' said Dr D Waghmare from the state health department's vital statistics division. On translation issues, he said the private party that set it up is working on it.

"We are holding training sessions for doctors on how to fill up the form. We also have a Whatsapp group in which problems doctors face are highlighted and resolved at the earliest,'' he said, adding that these teething issues will be ironed out soon. "Shortly, the button to print birth certificates directly will be operational,'' he said.

Meanwhile, BMC officials denied there was a delay in getting birth certificates. "The earlier process too took a month. We haven't yet completed a month with the new system and hopefully all problems will be resolved soon,'' said a ward-level medical officer in the suburbs.

Dr Mukesh Gupta, trustee of the Association of Fellow Gynecologists, said, "The new system will improve the birth certification process... any improvement takes time and there are bound to be teething problems, we have to ensure the transition takes minimum time."


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