Auleria Wakudumo
Home affairs minister Albert Kawana has tabled a Bill that, if passed, will make it a criminal offence for doctors to leave the cause of death section on death certificates blank.
He tabled the Civil Registration and Identification Bill for the second time on Monday. Kawana previously withheld the Bill
because of objections raised by members of parliament.
Kawana said that the Bill seeks to address current shortcomings in the recording of causes of death by medical professionals, which significantly hinder the compilation of accurate mortality data.
He stated that the data is crucial for development planning. “Doctors do not update causes of death, and this negatively affects mortality and cause of death statistics, which are required for development planning,” he said.
“Like the current birth, marriage and death registration Act, this Bill also makes it mandatory for doctors to record the cause of death in the system. Wilful failure to notify a cause of death will be a criminal offence,” he said.
Early this year, medical professionals and the ministry of health failed to issue an official report to date on the deaths of the three minors who succumbed to suspected food poisoning in Livayi village, Kavango West region.
Kawana added that the Bill seeks to establish a clear order of preference on who may register a death, and who may be issued a burial order to prevent disputes that delay burials.
“The Bill also addresses a common misunderstanding regarding death certificates. Many times, orphans are denied copies of their parents’ death certificates to prevent them from inheriting what is legally due to them. It is important to note that being in possession of a death certificate does not confer on the holder any rights. A death certificate is merely a document indicating details or particulars of a death. It is permissible for multiple identical death certificates or official copies of death certificates to be issued in terms of this Bill,” he added.
Currently, the ministry issues confirmation letters to service providers to confirm that a person has died. “We do not issue death certificates. This causes problems and increases fraud, as the letters have no security features, and can be forged. The Bill will change this,” the minister assured.