Public Health Dept rendering all important services

Central Chronicle News
Bhilai, May 24: SAIL- Bhilai Steel Plant’s Public Health Dept (PHD) that issues birth and death certificate as one of its key function is one department that could be said to be associated with each family residing in the steel township.
Among the other functions of this dept that touches lives of all residents is garbage collection and cleaning operations in the entire township. From carrying out sanitisation in township and offices to setting up vaccination centre in Town Services Dept and coordinating with district administration for Covid testing at a centre in township, the PHD team led by an industrious HoD, KK Yadav, DGM (Town Services-PHD) has its hands full during the current pandemic times.
Along with all these functions, the department very systematically carries out the job of issuing birth and death certificates. Entrusted by the Office of Registrar (Birth & Death) with the task of issuing certificates for all birth and death cases in BSP’s JLN Hospital, the PHD team has worked diligently on this job during the current pandemic time, said Yadav. Authorised by the Office of Registrar (Birth & Death) to issue certificates for all births and death cases in JLN Hospital, the Public Health Dept makes these certificates on the specified software of Registrar General of India.
Certificates are issued in the specified format by PHD. All certificates are issued free of cost, says Yadav, adding that PHD’s centre has been functioning at a time when other such centres were not operational during lockdown period. Our dedicated team continued to function even as some team members were down with Covid, he said, adding that remaining members have worked beyond duty hours to fulfil this important responsibility of issuing certificates on time.
According to DK Mishra who has been authorized to issue certificates as Registrar (Birth & Death), an average of 3000 certificates are issued from this centre annually. This centre has been functioning since 1959, he said. Certificates were issued manually till 2015 and it was from January 01, 2016 that the system was computerised. Interestingly, till 1984, birth and death certificates for entire population of Bhilai including Khursipar, Camp area, Vaishali Nagar, Nehru Nagar etc were issued from this very centre. It was only after constitution of SADA that this centre issues certificates only to those residing in the township. After 2016, certificates are being issued only for birth and death cases in JLN Hospital. But till today, we have systematically maintained records since 1959. We are proud of serving citizens of Bhilai for 62 years, he said.Responding to the issue of citizens demanding that cause of death be mentioned in death certificate, hri Yadav said there is one single format for issuing death certificate all over the country which is taken out using the RGI software. Information is filled in two pages of this format. The second page that mentions cause of death cannot be printed. The objective behind not mentioning cause of death in death certificate is that it would be embarrassing for members of family of a person who for example have died from HIV. There is a social stigma attached with such cases, which is why cause of death is not mentioned in certificate issued. The cause of death is mentioned in Form 4 issued by the Hospital and same can be obtained from the hospital, he said.Members of the team led by Yadav who are responsible for the job of issuing these certificates include AK Banjare and VK Bhondekar, both Managers, DK Mishra, Registrar, RK Jain, Jr Health Inspector, Bilal Ansari, Kamta Prasad, Subhashchandra Maharana, Sandip Chandekar and Data entry operator, Virendra Kumar Sahu.
Anyone seeking certificate has to fill in a form and submit self-certified xerox copy of required documents. Original documents are not asked for by the department. For birth certificate, one has to submit baby card or vaccination add of baby along with Adhaar Card of parents. For death certificate, the applicant/legal heir has to submit self-certified copies of self’s and deceased person’s Adhaar Card, documents from hospital given after death, receipt given at cremation. If all documents are in order, certificate is issued in a week’s time, said Yadav. No fees are charged by BSP for these services.