By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

On Wednesday, Governor Benigno R. Fitial signed into law a bill mandating the Department of Public Health to adopt the federal government’s system in registering vital medical and health-related statistics.
H.B. 15-15, or the Vital Statistics Act of 2006, is now Public Law 15-50.
It requires Public Health to create a health and vital statistics office which “shall install, maintain and operate a system of vital statistics throughout the CNMI.”
The new office can collect fees for every birth and death certificate filed and will be manned by a “registrar.”
Rep. Ramon Tebuteb, R-Saipan, introduced H.B. 15-15 last year upon the recommendation of the National Center for Health and Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control.
Under P.L. 15-50, if the mother was not married at the time of either conception or birth, or between conception or birth, the name of the father will not be entered on the certificate unless an affidavit of paternity was signed by the mother and the person to be named as the father.
The new law requires physicians to complete a medical certificate within 48 hours on the illness or condition which resulted in a patient’s death.
The new health and vital statistics office is mandated to share records with the federal government.
To protect the integrity of vital records and to prevent the fraudulent use of birth certificates of deceased persons, the registrar of the health and vital statistics office “is hereby authorized to match birth and death certificates, in accordance with regulations which require proof beyond a reasonable doubt of the fact of death, and to post the facts of death with the appropriate birth certificate.”
The new law imposes penalties for persons convicted of violating its provisions.
Anyone making false statements on a certificate, record or report to the registrar, including making false amendments, will be fined up to $10,000 or imprisoned for up to five years or both.
The same penalties will be imposed on persons found guilty of counterfeiting, altering, amending or mutilating any certificate record or report.
A fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not more than a year, or both, “shall be imposed on any person who willfully and knowingly refuses to provide information required by this Act or regulations adopted herein.”
Any person who willfully and knowingly transports or accepts for transportation, internment or other disposition a dead body without an accompanying permit, will also receive the same penalties.