By LARA PICKFORD-GORDON Thursday, May 21 2009

LEGAL Affairs Minister Peter Taylor yesterday described as “a turning point” improvements in operations at the Registrar General’s Office; chief of which is upgrades to the computer system which facilitates issuing of electronic birth certificates in minutes rather than hours.

This is possible through the upgrade of the registry’s life data system to a more modern programme known as Full Suite.

Taylor said “real time” service was introduced on May 4, but the journey up to that point began since 1994 when Cabinet mandated the ministry to embark on a population registration system. He said its mandate was also to “create real time service, a level of professionalism, delivery where persons can access as far as possible the services of the Ministry in a short space of time”. Taylor said that between 800 to 900 birth certificates can be processed daily. This figure includes foreign applicants.

He said the ministry is the “repository” for the life data of all citizens, recording births, marriages and deaths. The provision of computerised birth certificates was introduced in 2003 for persons 18 years and under and three years later to all members of the public. Taylor said the ministry soon had demand for the service because other Ministries made such a certificate a prerequisite in order to access certain services.

“The pressure and demands were brought to bear almost overnight on the ministry. The building has not changed, the capacity has not changed but we had to grapple with this instantaneous demand,” Taylor said.

The Australian firm Ke Vitalware was contracted to oversee the upgrade and incremental upgrades have been implemented over the years. The software upgrade has so far cost US$3.7 million. Taylor said the ministry was aiming for a July deadline to provide marriage and death certificates in real time.

Registrar General Susan Francois said that for this year, more than 70,000 electronic birth certificates were issued. From 2003 to the present, 1,190,508 certificates were distributed.

Information Specialist Marlon Dobson highlighted several benefits of the new system among them: improved cash management, more simple reporting facility, more data accuracy.