Like prescriptions, death certificates too are illegible

It's not just the doctors' presription that is illlegible. It seems the doctors can't write even the 'death certificate' properly. The directorate of economics and statistics, which comes under chief registrar of births and deaths, says it is finding difficulty in compiling the data relating to the cause of death. And one of the main reasons is difficulty in deciphering the doctors' scribbles.

The death certificate is issued by the government/ private hospitals and nursing homes stating the exact cause of death of a person. According to a directorate official, Quite often, the death certificates are not filled completely, while some hospitals do not even send us these certificates.

The directorate not only has to cope with insufficient information, but also put up with discrepancies committed by the hospitals. These may include writing the cause (of death) in abbreviations, unclear, non-sequential causes, a detailed summary instead of the exact cause of death. If the deceased is a female of child-bearing age, the details of pregnancy is mandatory, but it is not followed, said a senior directorate official. Whether it is a prescription or a death certificate, the doctors have been asked to write legibly, he said.

Take, for example, the death certificate sent to the directorate by a reputed government hospital, a copy of which is with Bangalore Mirror. It has no details except for the name and age of the deceased person. All the other sections have been left blank. Another certificate had entire medical summary of patient instead of the exact cause of death.

Many private and government hospitals are clueless about the medical certificatiion of cause of death. The state has a long way to go in putting its mortality statistics in place. No wonder, only a mere 30 per cent come under the Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) Scheme in the state. According to statistics available with the directorate, out of the 3,544 government/ private hospitals and nursing homes under the scheme, only 1,312 hospitals have registered. As a result, important indicators like the infant, maternal and child mortality rate, exact mortality pattern in respect of certain diseases like AIDS, cancer and tuberculosis remain undervalued.

The Registrar General of India had issued a notification to all the government/ private hospitals and nursing homes in urban areas to implement the medical certification of cause of death in 2006 and made it mandatory. "Many hospitals are not aware of the scheme, which is why details come only from a few hospitals. However, the scheme is gaining momentum as we are holding awareness programmes to train doctors in government and private hospitals," said the official.

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Like prescriptions, death certificates too are illegible