RGD Encourages Parents To Collect Free Birth Certificates

Parents of children registered under the childbirth bedside registration programme are encouraged to visit the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) to obtain their child’s complimentary birth certificate.

The RGD’s Chief Executive Officer, Charlton McFarlane, said that as part of the initiative that was launched in 2007, the entity has been offering a complimentary birth certificate to parents whose child/children have been fully registered under the programme.

The childbirth bedside registration programme was developed to facilitate the early registration of infants born within birthing centres and hospitals.

“One of the things that we did to incentivise the whole bedside registration project was to offer a complimentary birth certificate to every child that is born in an institution and is fully registered,” Mr. McFarlane noted.

Details were shared by the CEO during a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Get the Facts’ television interview on Sunday, July 3.

Mr. McFarlane said that not all parents come to the RGD to collect their free birth certificate, “so we actually have those certificates in storage”.

He suggested that parents contact the entity to inquire about the free birth certificates and to make the required preparations to pick them up.

For further information on how to obtain the complimentary birth certificate, persons may visit the RGD’s website at www.rgd.gov.jm or one of its 10 offices located across the island.