THE Registrar General’s Department (RGD) has launched an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that will allow customers to track their applications for birth, death, marriage and adoption certificates via the telephone.

The system is an improvement to the agency’s $11-million Voice Over Internet Protocol, which was introduced in February 2010 to give customers direct access to its officers.

Speaking at the Courtleigh Hotel launch on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Patricia Holness explained that the system was improved by information and communications technology company Illuminat at a cost of $2 million.

“(The new system) is to further enhance our telephone customer service,” Holness declared.

The system enables customers to have automated interactions with the agency by following the pre-recorded voice prompts. By entering a 12-digit receipt number, users can track applications by accessing the Application Tracking System.

Meantime, Holness said the agency is hoping to introduce electronic bedside registration to increase birth registrations islandwide.

The agency formally rolled out its bedside registration programme in 2007, which sees officers manually registering newborns at hospital bedsides and mothers receiving the first copy of their children’s birth certificates free of cost.

The agency said the programme has resulted in a huge jump in the number of newborns who are registered, as well as that of fathers adding their particulars to the certificates.

Now the agency wants to speed up the process by using a laptop which would feed the data directly into the RGD system.

According to Holness, the electronic protocol has been implemented in a pilot run at selected hospitals.

In addition, the agency is also working with the United Nations Children’s Fund to provide 5,000 baby-name books for mothers.