Errors galore in death certificates as city reports excess mortality

G Arun, a city resident said one of his relatives died in a government hospital  a  few  weeks  ago  but  the  death   certificate   issued   by   the   Chennai  Corporation  has  wrong  address  details.

“Due  to  this,  we  cannot apply for a legal heir certificate  and  other  documents.  Even  after  repeated  attempts,  Corporation  officials  refuse  to  correct  the  details,” he said.

Arun is not alone in this as several  residents  are  facing  similar  issues. Some certificates have mis-spelt  the  names  of  the  deceased  while others have a wrong address or age. When asked, a Corporation official  clarified  that  the  civic  body  enters  the  details  as  provided  by  the hospitals concerned.“Hospitals  collect  the  details  of  the patients during admissions.

At this   point,   either   the   relatives   make  mistakes  in  providing  the  details or the staff introduce them. The  same  will  be  entered  in  the  death  report  (Form  2).  Based  on  death reports, our data entry operators  fill  the  certificates  and  sanitary inspectors approve them,” the official said.

He said the civic body will  not  be  able  to  change  the  details provided by the hospitals. According   to   the   Birth   and   Death  Registration  portal  of  the  State   government,   as   many   as   58,208 deaths have occurred in the state in 2021. The civic body should issue  death  certificates  within  21  days after the incident.

According to an official, the details in the death certificates can be corrected once hospitals rectify the errors that have crept into their reports. “If any resident finds wrong details in death certificates, they can get an amendment order from the hospital, which is nothing but corrected death report. Based on the amendment, we can change the details. However, once entered, deceased person’s name and date of death cannot be changed,” the official explained. Spelling mistakes introduced by the civic body’s data entry operators while entering the details can be corrected at the Corporation level itself, without amendment from the hospitals.