Police Train Officers On Processing Death Certificate Issuance 

Nigeria Police Medical Services through, the Force Pathologist Office, has organised a workshop for Police Medical Officers on Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) to enhance processes involved in the issuance of a death certificate.

The one-day workshop held in Abuja was attended by the Officers on Civil Registration & Vital Statistics (CRVS) with a special focus on Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD).

Force medical officer, Emmanuel Garba, in his welcome address, commended the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba for the approval and support for the programme, noting that Death Registration remains a vital statistics for policy making.

He also appreciated the effort of the Force Pathologist, CSP Dr Samuel Keshinro, for his passion and doggedness in driving the novel project, through the sponsorship of the Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Also speaking, managing director, Police Health Maintenance Limited, Dr Yusuf Gazali, commended the project and noted that his organisation will always support and partner with the Nigeria Police Medical Services in actualizing laudable projects of this nature, for the benefit of members of the Force and the general public.

He said the training will help to speed up attention in payment of death benefits to deceased families.

He said, “Initially there were some forms of delay in signing death certificates, we all know the importance of death certificates, it is used to retrieve benefits and other things in society, but with this, I can assure you that our officers and men will be prompt in signing death certificates and will know how to sign it and handle it accordingly.”

Force Pathologist, CSP Dr Samuel Keshinro, said the workshop is part of efforts to create awareness on the importance of death certification and registration in order to be able to capture appropriate data for the use of policy-makers in the sectors that are required.

“The National Population Commission (NPC) is responsible for the death data that are captured at health facilities. This kind of forum creates awareness to afford people the opportunities to formulate better rules and regulations to get information on what is required, “ he said.

CSP Keshinro stated further that the Force has been collaborating with the NPC, and that it is just an extension of what they have been doing since 2022.

“We are going to foster better collaboration where data and other information are shared between the two organisations,” he said.

Consultant pathologist and lecturer, College Of Medicine, University of Lagos State, Nnamdi Orah, while making a presentation on Business Process Mapping (BMP) said, “BMP is a way through which we use the information we had about death notification and registration to outline the workflow process, outlining the different individuals and agencies that participate at each stage of death notification and registration.”

He said the BMP is a system that has helped streamline the entire process where the next of kin of the deceased can easily get death, medical certificate of cause of death and also the proper certificate of death from the National Population Commission.

“Through the Business Process Mapping we identified bottlenecks and areas that could be improved. Rather than the paper-based means of transmitting information, we created a web application through which people, government agencies and institutions can login and be able to update and tell the NPC, notify them about the death, and also the NPC will be able to verify such death.”

Orah revealed that the innovation has eliminated about five to six steps that were there before business mapping.

The workshop was attended by the commissioners of police respectively in-charge of Nursing and Dental, CP Umar Madaki and CP (Dr.) Nkechi Eze, as well as all the Police Medical Officers in-charge of all the Medical Facilities of the Nigeria Police Force in various state commands and formations, and certificates were issued to participants.