Doctors to face criminal charges for omitting cause of death
Home affairs, immigration, safety and security minister Albert Kawana has once again tabled a bill that - if passed - will make it a criminal offence for doctors to leave the ‘cause of death’ section on death certificates blank.
He tabled the civil registration and identification bill for the second time on Monday. Kawana previously withdrew the bill due to objections raised by members of parliament.
This week, he motivated the tabling, saying the bill seeks to address current shortcomings in the recording of causes of death by medical professionals, which significantly hinders the compilation of accurate mortality data, he said.
The data is crucial for developmental planning, Kawana explained. "Doctors do not update causes of death, and this negatively affects mortality and cause-of-death statistics, which are required for developmental planning.”
Kawana gave an overview of the bill's provisions, including updates to birth registration categories and death certificate issuance procedures.
"Like the current Birth, Marriage and Death Registration Act, this bill also makes it mandatory for doctors to record the causes of death in the system. Wilful failure to notify a cause of death will be a criminal offence," he said.
‘Act of concealment’
In February this year, Namibian Sun reported on a devastating incident in Livayi village in the Kavango West Region, where three minors - Nahambo Likuwa (1), Nangombe Shinyemba (7) and Christoph Shiyemba (13) - succumbed to suspected food poisoning, while five others were hospitalised. No official report has, to date, been issued by the health ministry on these deaths.
In March, questions about the 2023 deaths of 16 family members from Kayova village resurfaced when National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary-general Josef Kauandenge criticised the gender ministry for "taking ages" to release postmortem results to the affected family. During the national budget session, he demanded transparency, asserting that the ministry's silence was an act of concealment.
Common misunderstanding
Kawana highlighted that the bill seeks to establish a clear order of preference on who may register a death and who may be issued a burial order to prevent disputes that delay burials.
He added that the bill also addresses a common misunderstanding regarding death certificates. "Many times, orphans are denied copies of their parents' death certificates to prevent them from inheriting what is legally due to them. It is important to note that being in possession of a death certificate does not confer the holder any rights. A death certificate is merely a document indicating details or particulars of death. Therefore, it is permissible for multiple identical death certificates or official copies of death certificates to be issued in terms of this bill.
“The person requesting a death certificate must provide proof of their identity, and the registrar must record the person's relationship with the deceased person,” he said.
“Currently, the ministry issues confirmation letters to service providers to confirm that a person has died. We do not issue death certificates. This causes problems and increases fraud as the letters have no security features and can be forged. The bill will change this," the minister assured.
Civil registration system
The purpose of a country's civil registration system, Kawana explained, is to record and store information on the occurrence of vital events and their characteristics and to permit retrieval of the information when needed for legal, administrative, statistical and other uses.
"A civil registration system is characterised as being compulsory, universal, continuous, permanent and confidential. Confidentiality is important because civil registration systems collect a variety of information about individuals, some of which may be highly personal and sensitive," he said.
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He tabled the civil registration and identification bill for the second time on Monday. Kawana previously withdrew the bill due to objections raised by members of parliament.
This week, he motivated the tabling, saying the bill seeks to address current shortcomings in the recording of causes of death by medical professionals, which significantly hinders the compilation of accurate mortality data, he said.
The data is crucial for developmental planning, Kawana explained. "Doctors do not update causes of death, and this negatively affects mortality and cause-of-death statistics, which are required for developmental planning.”
Kawana gave an overview of the bill's provisions, including updates to birth registration categories and death certificate issuance procedures.
"Like the current Birth, Marriage and Death Registration Act, this bill also makes it mandatory for doctors to record the causes of death in the system. Wilful failure to notify a cause of death will be a criminal offence," he said.
‘Act of concealment’
In February this year, Namibian Sun reported on a devastating incident in Livayi village in the Kavango West Region, where three minors - Nahambo Likuwa (1), Nangombe Shinyemba (7) and Christoph Shiyemba (13) - succumbed to suspected food poisoning, while five others were hospitalised. No official report has, to date, been issued by the health ministry on these deaths.
In March, questions about the 2023 deaths of 16 family members from Kayova village resurfaced when National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary-general Josef Kauandenge criticised the gender ministry for "taking ages" to release postmortem results to the affected family. During the national budget session, he demanded transparency, asserting that the ministry's silence was an act of concealment.
Common misunderstanding
Kawana highlighted that the bill seeks to establish a clear order of preference on who may register a death and who may be issued a burial order to prevent disputes that delay burials.
He added that the bill also addresses a common misunderstanding regarding death certificates. "Many times, orphans are denied copies of their parents' death certificates to prevent them from inheriting what is legally due to them. It is important to note that being in possession of a death certificate does not confer the holder any rights. A death certificate is merely a document indicating details or particulars of death. Therefore, it is permissible for multiple identical death certificates or official copies of death certificates to be issued in terms of this bill.
“The person requesting a death certificate must provide proof of their identity, and the registrar must record the person's relationship with the deceased person,” he said.
“Currently, the ministry issues confirmation letters to service providers to confirm that a person has died. We do not issue death certificates. This causes problems and increases fraud as the letters have no security features and can be forged. The bill will change this," the minister assured.
Civil registration system
The purpose of a country's civil registration system, Kawana explained, is to record and store information on the occurrence of vital events and their characteristics and to permit retrieval of the information when needed for legal, administrative, statistical and other uses.
"A civil registration system is characterised as being compulsory, universal, continuous, permanent and confidential. Confidentiality is important because civil registration systems collect a variety of information about individuals, some of which may be highly personal and sensitive," he said.
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