ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — The Registrar General’s Department (RGD) says it has begun electronic-registration in eight hospitals across Jamaica — Spanish Town, Mandeville, St Ann’s Bay, Cornwall Regional, Victoria Jubilee, Princess Margaret, Annotto Bay and May Pen hospitals.

A release from the agency today said that presently, electronic-registration is conducted simultaneously with manual registration, which captures the information of the child at the time of or shortly after birth, and is entered by the registration officer into its database immediately.

It added that while the law governing the registration of births and deaths does not contemplate online registration, the agency has taken the necessary measures and made submissions to the Chief Parliamentary Council (CPC) to have it amended to facilitate the e-registration process.  

The agency said with a complete roll out of e-registration, it will be able to capture information of all live births, into its database immediately (real time) electronically.