Vital Statistics Unit system down; customer vents to Breaking Belize News

Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2022. 1:53 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The Attorney General’s Ministry has regretfully announced that servers at the offices of the Vital Statistics Unit (VSU) nationwide are down, apparently due to network issues with Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL).

The office is presently open only to do registration of births, marriages, and deaths, with no indication of when services will return.

This afternoon, we spoke to Punta Gorda Town resident and frustrated customer Kaila Moralez, who told us she has been journeying for several years to obtain a new birth certificate for her now high-school-age daughter.

According to Moralez, the child’s father is not in her life and apparently took the original birth paper with him when he left some years ago.

Moralez says she has applied in Punta Gorda but endured a long wait, so she decided to travel to the City, leaving behind a very sick relative who requires 24-hour care and vigilance and for whom she is the chief caregiver.

But even though she paid years ago for the rapid service that theoretically provides the certificate in a day, she has yet to get it.

More recently, the Unit said it was unable to assist her without a copy of the original receipt, which Moralez had unfortunately lost, and today on her visit she was told that the system was down and that the Unit would not accept payment for a new certificate until it returned.

Not only is the back-and-forth travel from P.G. a hassle, Moralez said, but not having a birth certificate potentially keeps her daughter from registering for school and more recently made her unable to travel for a medical procedure.

Moralez told us that she is a supporter of the ruling People’s United Party, but that this has become an issue under successive administrations and is indicative of a broken system.

Rather than appeal to her party leaders to satisfy her issue, she says, she wants a permanent fix that will help all Belizeans, many of whom line up at the VSU office at Queen Street and Barrack Road overlooking Majestic Alley on a daily basis from early in the morning.

Attorney General Magali Marin Young has previously told reporters that there are plans to relocate the premises once again to the Charles Hyde Administration Building, while monies were recently appropriated for planned digitization of the service.

In the meantime, the VSU apologized for any inconvenience caused.

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Belize ~ We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages. Your content is delivered instantly to thousands of users in Belize and abroad! Contact us at mаrkеtіng@brеаkіngbеlіzеnеwѕ.соm or call us at 501-601-0315.

© 2022, BreakingBelizeNews.com. Content is copyrighted and requires written permission for reprinting in online or print media. Theft of content without permission/payment is punishable by law.