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23
Notification of Births Act.
This Act has now been in force in the district for nearly
four years, and yet it is surprising how many people there are
who are quite ignorant of its main provisions.
The Notification of Births Act requires that notice in
writing of the birth of the child should be given to the Medical
Officer of Health of the district within 36 hours of its occurrence.
The duty of such notification rests primarily on the
father if he actually resides in the house at the time, and
secondly, upon any person in attendance on the mother at the
time of, or within six hours of, the birth. The notification
required by this Act is not in substitution of the requirements
of any Act relative to the registration of births-
There can be no doubt that this Act. has met with considerable
opposition on the part of medical men generally
throughout the kingdom, as they state, and not
unreasonably, that they are unfairly burdened with a statutory
duty.
I am bound to say, however, that neglect to comply with
the Act upon the part of the medical men is due now not so
much to' opposition, as to the fact that it' is onei of those obligations
that are easily forgotten by a doctor in a busy practice,
and my efforts have been mainly directed to impress upon the
parents their duties under this Act.
The notifications of births are compared with the weekly
returns of births which are sent by the local Registrar. When
it is found that a birth has not been notified a letter is sent
to the parents calling their attention to the omission and requesting
them to notify at once. In the poorer parts of the
district the Nurse calls at the home, whether the birth has
been notified or not. In some cases the first letter hasi had to
be followed by one of more peremptory wording, which
usually has thei desired effect.