(1) It shall be the
duty of every midwife to furnish to the Chief Health Officer a report in
writing in the manner and at the time and in the form prescribed of every case
attended by the midwife, whether of living, premature or full term birth, or
stillbirth, or abortion.
(2) A report furnished
under subsection (1) shall state the name and address of the mother, and shall
be furnished to the Chief Health Officer within 48 hours of the event.
(3) A midwife who
contravenes subsection (1) as read with subsection (2) commits an offence.
(4) The occupier of
any house at which a female not usually resident in any such house, is
attended, whether for gain or not, during childbirth or abortion or
miscarriage, shall forthwith notify to the Chief Health Officer that such
female is being so attended.
(5)(a) When a medical
practitioner attends on the happening of any premature birth, stillbirth or
abortion (other than an abortion to which paragraph (d) applies), the medical
practitioner shall send to the Chief Health Officer within 48 hours of the
happening a report in the prescribed form.
(b) A
medical practitioner, or where a medical practitioner is not in attendance, a
midwife, who attends a woman at the delivery of a foetus at any time after the
20th week of pregnancy shall notify the Chief Health Officer of the attendance
in the prescribed form.
(c) A
medical practitioner who, for the purposes of section 44 of the
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998 , certifies the cause of a
neonatal death shall notify the Chief Health Officer of the fact in the
prescribed form within 48 hours of the certification.
(d) When
a medical practitioner performs an abortion, the medical practitioner shall
notify the Chief Health Officer of the fact in the prescribed form within 14
days of the abortion being performed.
(e) A
notification under paragraph (d) must not contain any particulars from which
it may be possible to ascertain the identity of the patient.
(6)(a) The Governor
may from time to time proclaim that the provisions of this subsection shall
apply in respect of any district or part of a district and may from time to
time proclaim that those provisions shall cease to apply in respect of, or
having ceased to apply shall again apply in respect of any district or part of
a district.
(b) The
provisions of this subsection shall apply in respect of a district and part of
a district so long as those provisions remain the subject of a proclamation to
that effect under the provisions of the last preceding paragraph.
(c) The
Chief Health Officer shall appoint medical practitioners upon such terms and
conditions as the Chief Health Officer considers fit to conduct a post mortem
examination upon the body of every stillborn child where the still birth
happens in any district or part of a district to which the provisions of this
subsection apply.
(d) The
Chief Health Officer shall notify in the prescribed manner all medical
practitioners and midwives of the name and address of every medical
practitioner appointed under the provisions of the last preceding paragraph
and acting under the appointment.
(e) When
a stillbirth happens in any district or part of a district to which the
provisions of this subsection apply, the medical practitioner attending or, if
there is no medical practitioner attending, the midwife attending, shall, so
soon as reasonably possible after the happening, report it in the manner and
form prescribed, to a medical practitioner appointed under paragraph (c) and
acting under the appointment, who shall, unless otherwise authorised or
directed by the Chief Health Officer, thereupon conduct a post mortem
examination on the body of the stillborn child.
[Section 335, formerly section 263, amended: No.
17 of 1918 s. 48; renumbered as section 335: No. 38 of 1933 s. 42; amended:
No. 14 of 1944 s. 12; No. 71 of 1948 s. 12; No. 45 of 1954 s. 12; No. 113 of
1965 s. 8(1); No. 102 of 1973 s. 25; No. 28 of 1984 s. 45; No. 80 of 1987
s. 151; No. 27 of 1992 s. 84; No. 15 of 1998 s. 7(2); No. 40 of 1998 s. 14(4);
No. 19 of 2016 s. 36, 99 and 100.]