Births at some private hospitals are not being registered, according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon and government is looking to deal condignly with this unconstitutional practice.
“Cabinet took a hard line against management of private health care facilities that were withholding birth registrations that occurred in their facilities. The evidence was accumulating that confirmed registration of births was being denied at these health facilities. Cabinet vowed to eradicate the practice, keeping in mind that birth registration and access to birth certificates was indeed a constitutional right of those Guyanese,” he told reporters at a post cabinet press briefing yesterday.
According to Luncheon, the fact that this issue reached Cabinet for examination and pronouncement, “leads you to believe that it is a matter worthy of cabinet’s attention and it is happening frequently enough for condign actions be taken”.
He told reporters that the Minister of Health and the Attorney General would initiate interventions “minimally” to advise the administrators, managers and owners that they are indeed acting unconstitutionally and denying Guyanese their right to be registered and obtain identification papers.
Further, he said he has no reason to believe that the “hard line” would not include elements of the penalties prescribed in the health facilities licensing law as well as charges dealing with the denial of the constitutional right of these Guyanese.
Dr Luncheon did not identify the hospitals involved.
