'Data of birth must be maintained by KMC'

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) chairman Board of Administrators Firhad Hakim will take up with the Health department to ensure that the civic body is informed of the regular birth data in the state government hospitals. Presently, with birth certificates being handed over to people directly from the hospital, the KMC has often remained in the dark about the number of births.

The matter came to light at the Talk to KMC programme on Saturday when two callers pointed out that they had not received certificates of their child births from a state government hospital in north Kolkata even after applying for the same long time back.

"The hospital can hand over birth certificates to the newborn's family member from there itself. But the Chief Municipal Health Officer (CMHO), Kolkata happens to be the registrar of birth and death in Kolkata. So, if the data of birth is not available with the CMHO it may create problems in later stages. In case, a person loses the birth certificate at any stage and needs it, the corporation can issue the same by scanning its record. So it is necessary to maintain such records with KMC. I will take up the matter with the state Health department so that the issue is resolved," Hakim said.

KMC CMHO Subrata Roy Chowdhury who was present during the programme said that there have been instances when the concerned borough office under the jurisdiction of the hospital has not been communicated about births.

A resident from Adi Saptagram in Hooghly sought help from Hakim for the birth certificate of his girl child who was born in December last year at a north Kolkata hospital but is yet to get the birth certificate.