KINGSTON, Jamaica – The massive digitisation project being undertaken by the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) will assist with the transition to the National Identification System (NIDS).

The RGD recently disclosed at a JIS Think Tank that it will be moving to digitise more than 2.4 million records as part of its modernisation process. These include birth, marriage, death, adoption and stillbirth certificates.

Chief Executive Officer at the RGD, Charlton McFarlane, noted that the undertaking is being funded by the NIDS project.

“The digitisation is linked to NIDS. In fact, it is the NIDS project, through the Office of the Prime Minister, that is actually financing the digitisation of records at the RGD,” McFarlane said.

He explained that the relationship between the two entities will promote efficiency.

“It is really a close-knit relationship, and the efficiencies to be had with the digitisation of records will, in fact, add to efficiencies in the NIDS project as it relates to enrolment for the NIDS card and also the production of same,” McFarlane said.

He further argued that a symbiotic relationship will redound to the benefit of all citizens, as it will make getting the NIDS cards easier.

“Based on how the National Identification System is set up in the law, persons will require a birth certificate, a computer-generated birth certificate, and we can begin to see the natural link now where we have our records digitised,” McFarlane said.

“This will enable us to produce those certificates in a more efficient manner, in a timelier manner, and so that will facilitate persons who are enrolling for their NIDS cards. We will be able to produce those certificates quicker and enable them to move on to the next step of the application and enrolment in the National Identification System,” he concluded.

-JIS