Dr. Patricia Holness (left) chief executive officer of the Registrar General's Department, converses with managers of the new regional offices. From leftt are Robert Andrade of the Portland office; Balimeno Cuff, St. Elizabeth office and Desmond Davis from the Kingston offices. The occasion was a press briefing to announce the opening of the new regional offices at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew yesterday.
-Ian Allen photo
Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
THE REGISTRAR General's Department (RGD) will be further decentralising its services with the opening of three new regional offices this month in the parishes of Portland, Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth.
Dr. Patricia Holness, chief executive officer of the RGD, disclosed yesterday that the Portland branch will officially open on Monday, January 24 at 19 West Palm Avenue in Port Antonio and will serve the parishes of St. Thomas and Portland.
The St. Elizabeth branch will open its door, he said, at 3 Jewel Close in Santa Cruz on January 31 and the Westmoreland branch will open at 7 1/2 Lewis Street in Savanna-la-Mar on January 26.
Dr. Holness, who made the announcement at a press conference yesterday at the Knutsford Court Hotel in St. Andrew, said these three additional offices would be offering all the services currently offered at the head office at Twickenham Park in St. Catherine.
SERVICES OFFERED
These services, she said, included registration of births and deaths through the local district registrar to be stationed at each office. Persons will also be able to apply for birth, death and marriage certificates; certificates of stillbirth and adoptions; genealogical research, as well as the Island Record Office services of recording of deeds and conveyances and the drafting of deed polls.
Dr. Holness said: "We believe that we will benefit from this further decentralisation, in terms of further reducing crowds at the offices, which currently exists."
The opening of the three new offices now brings the total number of regional offices to seven. The new offices are being opened at a cost of $7 million and will create 18 positions.
The agency has also reported that it has delivered more than 190,000 certificates through its 'Door to Door' service that was implemented in March 2004 and has been able to reduce overcrowding at its head office by 70 per cent.
