Africa-Press – Lesotho. In pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, especially target 16.9 which advocates for provision of legal identity for all including birth registration – the Ministry of Home Affairs together with the Ministry of Health have launched Automated Child Birth and Death Registration System at Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) yesterday.
While officiating the office and services at QMMH, the Minister of Home Affairs Hon. Motlalentoa Letsosa indicated that by introducing Automated Birth Registration, the ministry aims at shifting away from the manual application of both birth and death certificates, saying the system issues documents immediately. “Upon the birth of a child at the hospital, or the death of a person, the ministry of Home Affairs officers engage in the registration of such a person and Baby, thus issue a birth and death certificate immediately,” Hon. Letsosa highlighted. He noted that at this event, a new born was awarded a birth certificate and one deceased’s family was given a death certificate.
He also revealed that the first Hospital to offer these services is Morija Scott Hospital, this took place last year to mark His Majesty King Letsie III’s birthday as it is the hospital where he was born.
The second hospital to offer Automated Birth Registration is Maluti Adventist Hospital in Berea, Mapoteng. On behalf of the Minister of Health, Hon. Motlohi Maliehe congratulated the ministry of Home Affairs for the
launch of this system at QMMH. He urged Basotho to make use of the system as it is going to be helpful in assisting the government to keep proper statistical
records and thus help in national development plans he said through this development, it will also be easy to know how many expectant mothers give birth
at home and at the health facilities. He further pressed for expectant mothers to go for health facilities knowing the names of their expected babies.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is mandated to register all vital events such as births, marriages, Identity documents and deaths. The Ministry is on the journey to ensure legal identity for all,
abiding with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target 16.9 “leaving no one behind” and is still about decentralization services amid Covid-19 pandemic.
Present at the event were representatives from: Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Development Planning and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
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