According to Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the programme to give newborns a Ghana Card is ready to launch.
According to him, the Ghana Health Service, National Identification Authority, and Births and Deaths Registry databases have been integrated, making the policy ready to go into effect.
After a successful system test, a newborn baby received the first Ghana Card number on Friday, July 21, 2023, according to the Vice President, who made the announcement on Saturday, July 22, 2023.
“The work of integrating the databases has been completed, The full test was done yesterday, and I am happy to say that the first Ghana Card number for a baby was issued yesterday.
“So in the next month or two, all babies born in Ghana, once they take them to Weigh In, will be issued the Ghana Card number and also get their Birth Certificate Identification number at the same time, because the two databases are talking to each other. The nationality of the parents will be established as part of the process”.
“This is very transformational,” Dr Bawumia noted, explaining that they will have these numbers from the time they are babies till they pass away.
Cards containing the biometrics and other information will be given to the kids when they are older, once their digits and other traits are completely developed, according to representatives of the National Identification Authority (NIA).
Dr. Bawumia emphasised that the government’s ongoing digitalization plan, created to get the country ready to fully participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including the issuance of ID numbers at birth as a key component.
With its unique number acting as the Social Security, Health Insurance, and Tax Identification numbers, the Ghana Card is increasingly used as the sole form of identification.
