• Late and delayed death registration will take place at DRO or Post Office and will use NR10C and not NR10.

Steps:

1. Applicant/informant to completes NR10C Form.
2. Village Head of the village head where burial took place signs on the NR10C Form.

3. Applicant/informant attaches Burial Report.
4. The Applicant/informant pays late death registration fee of MK2,000 at the Treasury Cashier Office.
5. Death Certificates shall be issued to the Applicant/informant immediately.

4.1. Death Registration of Dead-on-Arrival Case

• Dead-on-Arrival (DoA) is defined as a patient who was found to be already clinically dead upon the arrival of professional medical assistance. In many cases, the person has died at home and relatives have brought the body to the hospital for confirmation of death.
• The death will be registered in the health facility with place of death as the case may be.

Steps:

1. Applicant/Informant completes Section-1 of NR10.
   • In case the informant is unable to write, health personnel present will assist the client and get the signature/thumb of Applicant/Informant.
2. The attending Physician/Clinical Officer/Medical Assistant completes Section 2 (Medical Certification of Death and Cause of Death) after interviewing the person who was present at time of death.
   • Where it is not possible for the clinician to ascertain cause of death, Section 2 will remain blank.
3. Health personnel completes Section 3 (Acknowledgement Slip) and issues to the applicant/informant.
   • This is used for depositing the dead body into the mortuary, transportation of the body to burial place and collection of death certificate.
4. Death Certificate can be printed at the health facility for health facilities with certificate printers. Otherwise, death certificate shall be processed at the District Registration Office (DRO) within 30 days.

4.2. Death Registration of Unnatural Deaths

• The unnatural death is defined as death caused by external cause like injury or poisoning which includes death due to intentional injury, such as homicide or suicide, and death caused by unintentional injury in an accidental manner.
• In almost all cases post-mortem is under taken at request of the police department.
• The death will be registered in the facility where postmortem was conducted with place of death as the case may be.

Steps:

1. Applicant/Informant completes Section-1 of NR10.
   • In case the informant is unable to write, health personnel present will assist the client and get the signature/thumb of Applicant/Informant.
2. Health personnel completes Section 3 (Acknowledgement Slip) and issues to the applicant/informant.
   • This is used for depositing the dead body into the mortuary, transportation of the body to burial place and collection of death certificate.
3. The Physician conducting the post-mortem completes Section 2 (Medical Certification of Death and Cause of Death).
4. The applicant/informant attaches copy of police report to NR10 form.
5. Death Certificate can be printed at the health facility for health facilities with certificate printers. Otherwise, death certificate shall be processed at the District Registration Office (DRO) within 30 days.

4.3. Death Registration of Unclaimed Bodies

• An unclaimed body is a body whose next of kin or family members have not been identified or located to claim the body for burial or other disposition.
• For registration purposes, the institution in custody of such bodies will act as informant.
• The NR10C Form will be completed and signed by the respective institutions as informant, and no verification by village head will be required.
• In case the personal particulars are available the deceased will be registered with those details, otherwise it will be registered with name “Unknown” and whatever details of mandatory variable available.
• Informant will indicate the estimated year of birth on NR10C.
• In these cases, death certificate will be issued on demand.

4.4. Deaths Abroad

• Death abroad is defined as death of a Malawian citizen occurring outside the boarders of Malawi. As per UN Principles and Recommendations, such deaths are to be registered at the place of death and that country should issue a Death Certificate or other similar documents. For demographic and statistical purposes such deaths may be registered again here in Malawi at an opportune time. Death certificate can be printed on demand after stating the reasons for need of the Malawian Death Certificate.