Dept. of Local Government to partner with RGD to deliver 2,600 birth certificates

The Department of Local Government is partnering with the Registrar General’s Department (RGD), to deliver some 2,600 birth certificates to persons island-wide, as part of outreach activities to observe Local Government Month (November).
State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, made the announcement while delivering the main address at a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new Municipal building for the St. Elizabeth Parish Council, in Black River, on November 10.
The State Minister said the initiative is partly geared at ensuring that the registered poor obtain their Tax Payer Registration Number (TRN), so that they can access benefits under the National Health Fund (NHF), and the Jamaica Drug for the Elderly Programme (JADEP).
“We have discovered, through our Poor Relief Department, that a lot of our elderly folks cannot access social welfare programmes that are available for them, because they do not have a TRN. And, although the Government has adjusted that requirement that you can use your school record or a letter from a Justice of the Peace (JP), a lot of persons are still not coming forward to access PATH or JADEP, or the NHF benefits. It is also important for our statistical records that persons in Jamaica are counted,” he said.
Mr. Montague emphasised that health benefits are crucial in the wellbeing of those unable to care for themselves, and the birth certificate initiative would assist them to live a healthy life, adding that many of them would have made significant contribution to communities and the country, so nothing should prevent them from accessing programmes that the Government have earmarked for them.