Bedside Birth Registration Initiative Launched Faster, Simpler, Easier For Parents
Parents who have gone through the process of registering their baby’s birth know it often involves lengthy paperwork and time away from both work and their newborn.
The Bedside Birth Registration Initiative aims to address this long-standing, time-consuming challenge by making the process faster and more convenient for families.
The initiative was officially launched on Thursday, New Year’s Day, at the San Fernando General Hospital.
For mother of three Carla Blackman, the birth registration process is a familiar one. However, this time was different. Her newborn son, Brandon, the first baby born in Trinidad and Tobago for 2026, also became the first child to be registered through the Bedside Birth Registration Initiative.
« Sometimes you take a whole day, you have to take a day off from work in order to get this done and both parents might be able to get that done, given, you know, certain circumstances. »
According to District Registrar for Births and Deaths in San Fernando, Jennylyn Barton Simon, the Bedside Birth Registration Initiative, spearheaded by the Registrar General Department, aims to ease this process, which begins before the birth of the baby. The information on the online form is confirmed after the baby’s birth, and the birth certificate is generated.
Ms. Blackman welcomed the convenience of leaving the hospital with both her newborn and her baby’s birth certificate.
« So this was actually a very great initiative, and to actually have your baby and your birth certificate going home together, top-notch. »
Minister of Land and Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein said the initiative aims to streamline and improve the process of registering newborns.
« So this really didn’t cost us anything because we had already the IT infrastructure in place. There is one provider that we have used from time immemorial to run the civil registry, so it’s really just updating the systems. The reason why we chose South West is because, within all of the other RHAs, this is the most modernised RHA in terms of IT. So therefore it was very easy for us to plug our system into their system in order to get this working. »
Minister of Health Dr. Lackram Bodoe explained that this pilot project took six months to get up and running, with the intention of expanding to other Regional Health Authorities during this year.
« At the end of the day, convenience and accuracy would be important in terms of saving time. I think what is important to understand is that, you know, you have been here this morning witnessing mothers having just given birth and, of course, this is a very critical time for them. So, the convenience of having this done at the bedside rather than having to go out and spend time to do that, you know, in an office. So, that itself is an important factor. »
Dr. Bodoe noted that this initiative forms part of a wider digitalisation effort throughout the health sector.
