The Registrar General’s Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Security — also known as the Births and Deaths Registry — has embarked on a new initiative expected to improve birth registration throughout Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
The Bedside Registration Programme began on 1 April, and is being carried out at the General Hospital in St George’s, Princess Alice Hospital in St Andrew, and Princess Royal Hospital in Carriacou.
This new process requires fathers of children born out of wedlock to be present with their personal birth certificate and valid picture identification, in order to have their name(s) entered on the birth record.
Officials from Births and Deaths are optimistic this initiative will help increase the inclusion of pertinent data on newborns’ birth records — the name/names of the newborn, as well as information about the father — before mother and child/children leave the hospital maternity unit.
The implementation of Grenada’s bedside registration framework is timely, cost effective and hassle free with several immediate and long term benefits to the country, the parents and newborns. It also falls in line with similar birth registration programmes across the region.
Source: GIS
