Tamil Nadu Medical Council advisory for doctors on Issuing Age Certificate, Details
Chennai: After giving instructions for issuing Life and Death certificates, the State Medical Council of Tamil Nadu has now released an advisory for the doctors in the State informing them about the guidelines for issuing Age Certificate.
"Age Certificate is a Medical Certificate that certifies the Age of the person. Medical proof of Age is an additional document secondary to Birth Certificate, School Certificate or municipality documents regarding birth and is given only in ranges," TNMC mentioned in its advisory.
The Medical Council in its advisory mentioned about the reasons for which age certificates are issued to a person. Such reasons include marriage, issuance of driving license, getting pension etc. However the council has also reminded in the advisory that, "Registration of Birth and obtaining Birth Certificate has been made compulsory as per Tamil Nadu Registration of Births and Death Rules, 2000. Hence, issuing of Age Certificate for persons less than 21 years of age is unnecessary and shall be generally avoided."
Regarding the Age Certificate, the Council stated the following facts-
1)The Age Certificate mentions the probable age of the person issued by the Registered Medical Practitioners, based on careful physical examination and dental examination of the person. The probable age is given mostly in ranges. In most of the situations, for a person below the age of 21 years, the Birth Certificate can only be used as Proof of Age.
2) Radiological examination can be done only if asked for by the judicial / competent authority, since radiological examination will be useful to assess a person's age below 22 years, which are vulnerable for radiation consequences.
3) Age Certificates are generally issued for purposes like like marriage, driving license, old age pension and employment. It may be sought for by judicial/competent authorities in cases of child labour, inheritance of property, POSCO and sexual offences, etc.
The Council has also discussed in detail about the guidelines that the doctors need to follow for assessing the age of a person. The factors that the doctors need to take in to account for this purpose includes- physical appearance, dental examination, radiological examination, and also the documents that the doctors need to collect.
The guidelines that the doctors need to follow for issuing age certificate to a person are as follows:
(ii) Dental Examination:
Eruption of teeth – Age Reference Index:
| Permanent teeth | Age of eruption |
| First molar | 6 to 7 years |
| Central incisor | 6 to 8 years |
| Lateral incisor | 7 to 9 years |
| First bicuspid | 9 to 11 years |
| Second bicuspid | 10 to 12 years |
| Canine | 11 to 12 years |
| Second molar | 12 to 14 years |
| Third molar | 17 to 25 years |
(iii) Radiological Examination:
Radiological Examination helps in determination of age in persons below 22 years.
- The older method of taking six x-rays for assessing age is generally avoided to prevent exposure of radiation.
- For assessment of age below 17 years :
- a Single X-ray of Hand with Wrist and distal end of forearm of non- dominant hand alone can be taken.
- For assessment of suspected age between 15-22 years, X-ray of medial end of clavicle (X-ray Chest AP view) can be taken. In case of doubts regarding ossification of medial end of clavicle, a CT scan will be more informative.
- X-ray of Iliac crest is generally avoided, but can be taken only if the first two options do not give clarity on the possible age.
- Early and Mid Pregnancy is a contra-indication for radiological study.
According to standard references for appearance and fusion of ossification centers in Indian population, the following values are considered:
| Name of the Ossification Centre | Status of ossification centre | Males (Years) | Females (Years) |
| Capitate | Appearance | 2 months | 6 months |
| Hamate | Appearance | 2 months | 8-14 months |
| Triquetrum | Appearance | 3 | 2-3 months |
| Lunate | Appearance | 4 | 5 months |
| Trapezium | Appearance | 6 | 5-6 months |
| Trapezoid | Appearance | 5 | 5-6 months |
| Scaphoid | Appearance | 5 | 6 months |
| Pisiform | Appearance | 11-12 | 9-12 months |
| First metacarpal | Appearance Complete fusion | 2-3 15-17 | 3 months 14-16 months |
| Distal end of radius | Appearance Fusion | 2 18-19 | 1 16-17 |
| Distal ulna | Appearance Complete fusion | 5-6 17-18 | 8-10 17 |
| Medial end of clavicle | Appearance Complete fusion | 18-19 20-22 | 14-16 20 |
| Iliac crest | Appearance Complete fusion | 14 20-21 | 14 17-19 |
Required Documents:
While issuing Age Certificate, the following documents in addition to One Passport size Colour Photograph of the Applicant, mustbe collected:
- Birth Certificate / School Certificate (if available)
- Aadhaar Card/ PAN Card / Ration Card/Voter ID Card Passport / Driving License / Any Government issued document (Mandatory).
- Identity Proof of Parents (in case applying for minor) (Mandatory).
"A clear Xerox or soft copy of all certificates issued shall be kept in safe custody by the RMPs," further read the Advisory issued by TNMC president Dr. K. Senthil.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that TNMC had previously warned the doctors to be cautious while issuing Life certificates to unknown people. Referring to the fact that fake life certificates are used for committing common crime including registration of properties, the Council had advised the doctors that Life Certificate can be issued using Identification marks/Signatures/LTI of a person, only if that particular person is known to the doctor.
To view the TNMC advisory on Age Certificates, click on the link below.
https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/tnmc-advisory-175114.pdf
Also Read:Tamil Nadu Medical Council issues Death certificate guidelines
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