Dear Sir
I am Trinidadian born but living in the United States for over 20 years.
The purpose of this letter is not to pay glowing tribute to my adopted country nor is it to denigrate my country of birth but to highlight the inefficiency that continues to plague the systems in place to register births and obtaining death certificates.
Unfortunately,my father passed away on Old Year’s Day around midday. Luckily my brother was able to contact a medical practitioner from the area who examined the body, went through the hassle of filling out the paperwork and contacted the District Medical Officer (DMO).
My brother also went to report the death to the St Joseph Police Station and even though the policemen were very professional and sympathetic, they informed him that there was no vehicle immediately available to come to the home.
About two hours later the police did come and took a complete report and advised us on the processes to be followed. We were also able to contact the funeral home who came within a short time to remove the body.
This is where things got interesting.
We had to go to Mt Hope with all relevant documents such as my dad’s birth certificate, ID card etc along with the doctor’s forms in order to secure the death certificate to enable the funeral to take place.
Upon arriving, the relevant office was closed and we were told that they would not open until the following Tuesday (Monday being a holiday given for New Year’s Day). So clearly, we couldn’t plan the funeral until this part of the process was completed. In the interim we had a meeting with the funeral agency, Dass Funeral Home.
I would like to pay tribute to Mr Randy Dass for his professionalism, compassion and advice. He virtually took care of everything but told us we had to secure the relevant documentation at Mount Hope. We were also told that there was a backlog since 2 people in that office register deaths and one of them was on leave. Randy advised us to go early on Tuesday morning and line up.
We arrived at 7.20 am to find a few people already in the line. The office was scheduled to open at 8.30 am. When this time arrived nothing happened. By 8.50am , a heavy set woman came out of the office and stated that everybody had to fill out a form. The form was basically copying the information already present in the required documents (in this day and age). This of course took additional time since people didn’t walk with pens and there was no place to comfortably sit and fill this form.
In addition to people registering deaths, the office also deals with registration of births. It was heart breaking to see young mothers, with their little babies (in some cases a few weeks old) standing in the hot sun, holding their children and trying to fill out this irrelevant form.
Some of them had to take public transportation and walk a fair distance from the bus stop/taxi stand. By 9.20am the first group of five people went in. It appeared that each person took 45 mins to one hour (in addition to line up time which seemed to be about 1.5- to two hours).
My brother being resident here and officially the one reporting the death went in at approximately 11.05am and did not come out until 11.55am. I asked him what was done in the office and he told me that the lady just asked him if he had all the required documents and proceeded to enter the information from the filled form into the computer. This then generated another form which was issued as the interim death certificate. Clearly this is a useless task which can be eliminated in preference for a more efficient system.
When my son was born in a small town in a mid-western hospital almost 20 years ago, his birth was more or less automatically registered. Within a couple days, I was sent a letter in the mail telling me where to go to pick up his birth certificate once I showed proper ID, it took me less than five mins. Why do people grieving for the loss of loved ones, and young parents who in some cases have to miss a day’s work have to go through this painful process? A process which does nothing since it is irrelevant.
Why couldn’t the relevant documents be uploaded and a death certificate issued? Birth certificates are now digitised. The process could be part of the DMO’s or family member’s input and save the family much pain and hassle both for birth and death registrations.
I will not outline the other more pertinent issues taking place in Trinidad such as crime and unemployment, both most probably at the worst levels in the country’s history.
It is clear for any right thinking person to see and question. It would be good if the relevant powers that be come down from their ivory towers and put themselves in the shoes of citizens.
After all, they were elected to serve and not to drive tax-free cars, travel the world on tax payers’ expense, wear the most expensive suits including Louis Vuitton handbags and pontificate to the masses. This is but one example of inefficiency and while Governments can’t tackle all issues attempts must be made to improve people’s everyday lives. Clearly this is not happening with the current leadership with their continued arrogance and contempt for the people who elected them to serve.
I want to make it clear that I don’t blame the workers involved in these tasks. They have clearly inherited a broken system and have to live with it since the current authorities have no intention of changing it.
On a positive note, I would like to thank all the people who helped the family. Friends, relatives, neighbors who kept us going with their kind words and deeds that lifted our spirit. I would like to mention councillor Seema, the cashier, Mary from the Tunapuna Regional Corporation and the courteous and compassionate policemen at the St.Joseph police station who helped us tremendously.
Trinidad can be proud of the exemplary values ingrained in most of her citizens as well as their natural talent and intelligence which is second to none. It is unfortunate that people are being short changed by leaders who are self-serving and arrogant. Unfortunately under the current situation nothing is getting better and it is unlikely to get better.
A Maharaj
USA
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