Delhi govt plans to authorise hospitals to issue birth certificates in 3 days

“The key aim behind this decision is to streamline the process, reduce burden at the civic and district offices, and help parents obtain the certificates without any hassle. This will also help the government maintain accurate data of births and deaths of children in hospitals…,” said a senior government official.

Currently, when a child is born at a hospital, it registers all the details of the mother and the child — from hospital admission, time of birth, birth condition to discharge. However, to obtain a birth certificate, parents have to visit the local bodies — the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) or the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) — within seven days of the child’s delivery, or apply on e-district platforms that takes the parents through multiple verification processes.

“The Registrar General of India (RGI) has amended the (Registration of Births and Deaths) Act and issued guidelines. The government has also held meetings with local bodies and the Health department and directed all the revenue districts to further cooperate with the hospitals and health centres to implement this on the ground,” the official added.

Officials also said that they have recently written to the Directorate General of Health Services Director; Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, MCD Commissioner, NDMC chairman, and the Delhi Cantonment Board to roll out the new initiative in the city hospitals.

“Parents should not have to run from pillar to post for such a basic document. Under this system, the doctor who is on duty or looking after the patient at the time of delivery will be authorised to issue the certificate. The hospitals, which already register all the details on their system, can now just upload those on the civil registration system, generate the certificate digitally, and hand it over before the family leaves the facility,” said the official.

Officials said that this initiative is part of the government’s broader push towards digitisation, ease of doing business, and real-time registration of births across Delhi. For smooth roll-out of the scheme, an inter-departmental coordination committee has also been constituted.

Currently, there are 12 MCD zones and three hospitals under the NDMC and the Delhi Cantonment Board where people apply for birth certificates.

“In view of the increased importance of the birth certificate, it is the need of the hour that the certificate is delivered to the mother of the newborn child before her discharge from the hospital, especially by the government hospitals where more than 50% of total institutional births occur,” said the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, in a letter to the Health department and the civic bodies.

Officials said all government hospitals, Community Health Centres, and Primary Health Centres are working as registration units across the country. The civic bodies have also been asked to sensitise the registrars of such units about the changes.

Officials further said that they will soon organise training sessions for the registrars. The initiative will be rolled out from RML Hospital in the coming days, they said.