Palestine, 15 November 2021 (TDI): New parents in Palestine are put in a difficult, time-consuming process to register births. First, they receive a handwritten note from the hospital. They will have to deliver it in person to the Palestinian Ministry of Interior. Only then would they get a valid birth certificate.
As a result of this uncontrollable process, it was even tempting for parents, especially those living outside the urban areas. As a result, the government didn’t have a fully up-to-date population registry. Not having a birth certificate can be a problem in any part of the world.
In the vicinity of Palestine, new children must be registered to receive government services, freedom, and legal status in Palestine. According to Nader Atta, the Program Analyst for the United Nations Development Program, the situation in Palestine is complex.
The monopoly of authorities in Palestine
There is a monopoly of authority in Palestine because details of new born must be shared with Israeli authorities. If the citizens want to go anywhere with their family and they are not on the Palestinian people registration records, this means it is also not recorded on the Israeli registry. Israeli authorities can deport them from checkpoints and border crossings.
In addition, if the parents fail to register the birth at the Department of Home Affairs, the child will not be able to access government services. That includes school, doctor, health insurance, and obtaining a passport.
How does the Ministry register these people?
Nader Atta added that once he was looking out of his office window at the beginning of the pandemic. His office is on the upper floor of a building in the city of Ramallah, near the government building, where he often holds meetings with Palestinian Ministry of Interior officials.
There was no one on the streets, and all the office buildings were closed. Nader Atta recalls that people still give birth and people are still dying. How does the Ministry register these people?
Nader Atta wondered; the answer, which came when he looked out of his office window was, Why not integrate a digital platform that links hospitals in the West Bank directly with the Department of the Interior.
Working with the Minister of Health and Interior, Atta and his colleagues just did that. After the first pilot at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, West Bank hospital staff entered birth and death details into an online information sharing service.
The rollout team was able to overcome the challenges very quickly, added Atta. Within three months, everything was up and running. About 95% of private hospitals are now digitally connected. The new system also contributes significantly to the registration of deceased persons.
Digitalizing Data on birth in Palestine
It reduced the incidence of fraud and identity theft. Saving the Department of Home Affairs a lot of money and time. The department is now able to contact banks to close the accounts of the deceased. Which makes it difficult for people to sell the deceased’s property without proper authorization.
Digitalizing data on birth and deaths does much more, however than just relieves stress for new parents. Its impact is broad and potential. The new digital system eliminates the need for a birth certificate. Which saves the service more than $ 30,000 a year. Knowing the number of people born directly in a hospital makes it easier to help people, said Aktham Namoora, IT Director of the Interior Ministry.
Namoora’s colleague at the Department of Health. The new digital approach is so successful that service providers and their partners at UNDP are thinking about how to maximize impact geographically and on other services.
