Historical Background/Introduction
Health services are mainly concerned with the well being of general masses. The availability of the Statistics related to health schemes is essential for planning & monitoring the impact of various services designed for improvement in the health status. Considering this need the responsibility of collection, compilation of Civil Registration data was entrusted to a separate Bureau of vital statistics in year 1955. After the integration of preventive & curative health services, the responsibility to handle hospital statistics was entrusted to the bureau in the year 1970.

Consequently the Bureau of vital statistics was upgraded & recognized as State Bureau of Health Intelligence & vital Statistics (SBHI & VS) from the year 1976.

Thus the main functions of SBHI & VS are collection, compilation & publication of comprehensive vital statistics for the entire state & maintaining liaison with the central Bureau of Health Intelligence, Director General of Health Services, Registrar General Cum Census Commissioner of India & State Directorates.

About the Bureau
The main activities carried out by the Bureau are

• Development of a sound Civil Registration System (C.R.S.)
• Monitoring of Medical Certification of Causes of Death Scheme.(M.C.C.D.)
• Implementation of survey of Causes of Death (Rural) Scheme. (S.C.D.)
• To handle establishment of statistical cadre in the Health Department.

Civil Registration System
Introduction & History
The history of Civil Registration System in Maharashtra State can be observed by 3 time span viz.

1. The System prior to 1/4/1969.
2. The System during the period 1/4/1969 to 6/2/1976.
3. The System from 7/2/1976 & onwards.

I. The System prior to 1/4/1969
The registration & its monitoring were in the hands of the Revenue & police department, while collection, compilation & preparation of the reports on Vital Statistics, were assigned to the Directorate of Health Services, being a most immediate user of Vital Statistics data. Further the health personnel were very actively helping & also supervising registration activity.

II. The System during 1/4/1969 to 6/2/1976
With the formation of Zilla Parishad & in accordance with the provisions of section 45 of the Bombay Village Panchayat Act1958, the registration work was transferred to the Village Panchayat (VP) in the rural area of the entire State with effect from 1/4/1969. There is no change in urban area. Activity of registration is being carried out by Corporation & Municipal Councils, as previously.

III. The System from 7/2/1976 onwards
Realizing the growing importance of birth & death registration for the planning of socio–economic development, provisions for statutory registration was made in the entire country including Maharashtra under the Central registration of Birth & Death Act 1969, which was made applicable with effect from Apr. 1970 in Maharashtra. The State Rules i.e. The Maharashtra State registration of birth & death Rules 1976 were formed & notified in the Gazette dated 7/2/1978.

As per the guidelines from Govt. Of India, revised rules of Registration of Birth & Death were formed in the year 2000, known as Maharashtra state registration of Birth & death Rules 2000. These rules are enforcing from 1/4/2000.

Registration in Urban area
Registration of birth & death was statutory compulsory in all municipal & Corporation areas under the various Acts previously. After the formation of Registration of Birth & Death act 1969, the registration is made compulsory according to the Act 1969 & rules of 1976.

Medical Certification of Causes of Death
Introduction & History
Medical Certification of cause of Death is an important tool of obtaining authentic & scientific information regarding causes of mortality. The Scheme is formulated by Office of the Registrar General, India is a big step towards the establishment of a system in the country for obtaining data on causes of death. The Scheme had undergone phase – wise implementation in the State, starting from medical college hospitals. In second phase, District hospitals, specialized hospitals were covered. The office of the Registrar General had given necessary administrative guidelines regarding coverage of MCCD Scheme in both urban & rural area. Attempts are being made to cover all private & govt. hospitals since 1998.

M.C.C.D. scheme was introduced for the first time in Maharashtra State in Pune in 1951. Late on it was extended to the cities, nagpur (1957), Mumbai (1962) & Solapur (1969). the remaining urban areas of the state were covered in 1970 & onwards with the encouragement of the Director General Of Health Services, G.O.I. & with the co–operation of the director Of Municipal administration. a directive was issued to all the Municipalities towards the end of 1969 to bring into effect MCCD, in their respective areas, for certifying the cause of death under the Maharashtra Municipality Act 1965.

Survey of Causes of Death Scheme (Rural)
Introduction & History
Mortality influences the rate of growth of the population & provides a dimension of demographic perspective, which is vital for socio–economic planning. The pattern of deaths by causes, age & sex reflect the health status of the community & in turn provides a rational basis for health planning. It is not feasible to build up statistics of mortality by causes based on “Medical Certification of Causes of Death (MCCD)” due to paucity of medical institutions, & physicians in rural area. Still the percentage of non–institutional & unattended death is at higher side in the State as well as in the Country. This most important statistical gap has been bridged, to some extent by the scheme “Survey Of Causes Of Death”.

1. The Office Of the Registrar General, India initiated in the 1960s a Scheme called as “Model Registration System” (MRS). With a view that, there should be some centers, which are to be model in Registration of vital events. The scheme was introduced according to recommendations made in the ‘Conference on improvement of Vital Statistics’ held in 1961.
2. The Registrar General, India had launched the scheme in some States on pilot basis in 1965. Further the scheme has expanded in 10 states Andhra, Bihar, Asam, Gujrat, keral, Orisa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, The states Maharashtra, Hariyana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, M.P., U.P. are covered under the scheme in 1967.
3. The scheme was renamed in 1982 as “Survey of Causes of Death Scheme (Rural)”.
4. The implementation of the scheme has stopped by Registrar General, India in 1997 at central level & merged in the S.R.S. Scheme.
5. The progress & data received under the scheme was satisfactory in the Maharashtra State., & there was no any financial burden, in view of this, State has decided to continue the Scheme in Maharashtra.

Present Status

1. The Scheme was implemented in 600 H.Q. villages of P.H.C. in the State previously.
2. The enforcement of the SCD scheme has been included in the Project Implementation Plan of Maharashtra Health System Development Project in 2003–04 & received the financial support.
3. The implementation of the Scheme has been shifted from P.H.C.H.Q. village to village level, without changing the nos. of villages.
4. The lists of classification of the diseases have been modified base on ICD–10. Now the frame of 109 diseases through 19 major groups have been made available to the M.O. P.H.C. to select the cause of death, based on “Lay diagnosis reporting”.