Death registration and certification in Ghana

Death registration and certification are inexorably connected, as death certification provides the data that form the bedrock for accurate death registration. In Ghana, registration of all deaths is required by law, governed by the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2020 (Act 1027).1 Sections 29, 30 and 31 of Act 1027 deal directly with certificates that are issued after the death of a person. Under section 29, the medical practitioner who was in attendance during the illness of the deceased is required to issue a medical certificate that states the particulars of the death, including the cause of death (called the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death or MCCD). Where a health practitioner was in attendance during the illness of the deceased, the supervising medical practitioner shall issue the medical certificate that states the cause of death. It is quite clear here that the MCCD can only be issued by a medical practitioner (registered as such under the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act 2013, Act 857, Part 2, Sections 29, 30 and 312). A Physician Assistant does not qualify under Act 857 to issue an MCCD. Act 1027 empowers the District Registrar to issue a Death Certificate in the prescribed form after payment of the prescribed fee.