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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent 

THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has engaged the Ministry of Health and Child Care over the issue of hospitals holding onto birth records over unpaid bills making it impossible for parents to obtain birth certificates for their children.

Speaking in an interview during public hearings in Matabeleland South Province on the national inquiry on access to documentation in the country held at the Joshua Mqabuko Polytechnic in Gwanda, ZHRC chairperson, Dr Elasto Hilarious Mugwadi, said it had emerged during public hearings they had conducted in four provinces so far that hospitals were holding onto birth records thereby infringing on the rights of children to access birth certificates.

The commission has so far conducted public hearings in Matabeleland North, Mashonaland Central and Masvingo provinces. This week it was in Matabeleland South and the hearings ended on Thursday in Gwanda.

Dr Mugwadi said his commission had written to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Agnes Mahomva, over the issue of birth records.

“We are going to have a meeting with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health over the issue of hospitals that are holding onto birth records over unpaid bills. 

“Unofficially, the Ministry acknowledged that hospitals were not supposed to be doing this. We wrote two letters to the Ministry over the issue and that is why we are going to have this meeting,” he said.

“We decided to pursue the matter as it was raised during the public hearings that we have held in four provinces we have been to so far namely Masvingo, Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland North and South Provinces. 

“We expect the Ministry to give a directive to its health institutions to stop doing this as it’s a serious problem.”

Dr Mugwadi said an unpaid hospital bill was an issue between the hospital and the parent and not the child. If hospitals do this then it means the rights of the child are being infringed, the commission’s chairperson said.

He said the commission had previously engaged the Ministry of Health and Child Care over hospitals that were detaining mothers after giving birth over unpaid bills and the matter was resolved.

Matabeleland South Provincial Registrar Mr Innocent Dumani said birth records were the property of the Registrar General’s Office but hospitals were now abusing them by turning them into a debt collection tool.

“Birth records are a property of the Registrar General’s office which we give to the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The challenge is, however, that they are using them as a debt collection method. 

“We have heard of several incidences where hospitals hold onto birth records because of monies owed to them,” he said.

“It is the person who would have delivered at the hospital that owes the health institution and not the baby that would have been delivered. This is therefore an infringement on the rights of the child.”

Giving her testimony during the public hearings, Ms Chelisile Sibanda of Insiza District said she gave birth through a Caesarean operation at the United Bulawayo Hospitals and they refused to give her the birth record as she owed the hospital.

 She said as a result she had failed to obtain a birth certificate for her child. — @DubeMatutu