Staff Reporter
The University of Health Sciences (UHS) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram has said that the system of death certification is not standardized in the country and his varsity, therefore, will launch training courses and workshops for doctors in public and private hospitals in a bid to mitigate errors in this critical legal documentation.
He was addressing the participants of a meeting organized by the Technical Support Unit (TSU), Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) here at the UHS on Thursday.
Professor Javed Akram said that at national level, mortality data compiled from death certificates was used to track disease trends, set public health policies, and allocate health and research funding.
“For these reasons, it is important that death certificates be filled out completely, accurately, and promptly”, he said adding that hospitals lacked in reporting complete and accurate cause-of-death data. He further said that reported death rate in the country was very low which indicated a weak CRVS system in place. UHS VC was of the view that improving the death certification system would bring transparency in medical treatment as it would make doctors accountable for what they had been doing to their patients.
He said that UHS would develop a course in collaboration with TSU- CRVS and conduct training workshops for doctors over a period of one year.
He appointed UHS Forensic Sciences department’s head Dr Allah Rakha as the focal person of the project. TSU Technical Advisor Dr. SM Mursalin said the implementation of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) programme had been included in the government’s priority agenda and that the CRVS initiatives would be executed and completed in an aggressive manner.
“CRVS system is key to create a foundation for country administration, fabricating the backbone of inclusive development, supporting social protection, bridging the gap for the most vulnerable; forging opportunities for all segments of the population; and distributing the dividends of increased prosperity fairly across society”, he added.
