KARACHI, Mar 26 (APP): In a bid to ensure children’s rights and their access to basic facilities, the Sindh government decided to make birth registration mandatory across the province.
Chief Secretary Sindh Asif Haider Shah, while presiding over a meeting here on Wednesday, stated that birth registration has a vital role in protecting children’s rights and providing them access to basic vaccination, education and health facilities, said a statement issued here.
The provincial government will amend the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 as registering births, marriages, divorces and deaths is the statutory function of the Local Government Department under the SLGA 2013.
The CS Sindh said that the provincial government has already made birth registration free across Sindh to speed up the process especially in rural and remote areas and facilitate the lower income segments.
Chief Secretary Sindh maintained that the implementation of this 100 percent birth registration project is the top priority of the government to protect the rights of children, provide them with basic facilities, and ensure a bright future for the children of Sindh.
He said that the linkages between the Local Government Department and NADRA are being made more effective so that a complete digital data entry system for birth registration can be implemented that will not only ensure accuracy but also
speed up the process and all records will be updated in a timely manner.
The Sindh CS informed that the data will be collected from government and private hospitals, lady health workers and other relevant sources for the registration of births of children and health centers, schools and local authorities will also collaborate in the efforts to ensure timely registration of their children by parents. A comprehensive campaign will be
launched to create mass awareness of the significance of birth registration, he added.
The government believes that registration of every child will not only be beneficial for individual families but will also improve planning and provision of public facilities in the province, he said adding that with the help of accurate birth data, the government will be able to make better decisions regarding resource allocation, health-related campaigns and educational needs.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Health Rehan Iqbal Baloch, Secretary Information Technology Noor Ahmed Samon, Secretary Social Protection, DG NADRA Sindh and other concerned officials.