Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

How to request a birth certificate in Puerto Rico

Who can request one, what is usually required, where to apply, and how to reach the official Demographic Registry.

How to request a marriage certificate in Puerto Rico

Who can request one, what each copy costs, which channels are available, and how long each one takes.

How to request a death certificate in Puerto Rico

Who may request one, what it costs, and why the certificate stating cause of death is a separate, costlier request.

How to file a late birth registration in Puerto Rico

What to do when a birth was never registered: the Negative Certification, the five stamps, and the accrediting documents.

How to request a genealogical study from the Demographic Registry

The study of your ancestors: $100.00, about 20 business days, and how far back the search reaches.

How to request a literal civil copy in Puerto Rico

The faithful and exact copy of the registry book: what it is, when you need it, and how to request it by mail.

How to request a gender change on a vital event certificate

The Demographic Registry process, where the forms are, and what applies if you live outside Puerto Rico.

How to file a paternity recognition in Puerto Rico

The Demographic Registry process, and why doing it within 90 days costs $20.00 instead of $35.00.

How to file a legitimation when parents marry after the birth

The Demographic Registry process, the $10.00 stamp, and when Form RD-232 is also required.

How to register an emancipation with the Demographic Registry

What documents the Registry asks for, the two $20.00 stamps, and why it is only done at the Central Office.

How to register an adoption with Puerto Rico’s Demographic Registry

The four scenarios the law contemplates, what happens to the original record, and who can see the prior data.

Benefits & Assistance

How to apply for WIC: food for pregnant women, babies and children up to 5

Who qualifies for WIC, what documents the certification appointment requires, and what it provides: food, nutrition education and breastfeeding support.

Health certificate for work: what it is, which tests it takes and how long it lasts

Who needs the Act 232-2000 health certificate, which tests it requires, where to get it from an authorized physician, and why it is valid one year.

The living will: putting your wishes about medical treatment in writing

Act 160-2001 lets you declare which treatment you accept or refuse facing a terminal condition, and name who decides for you. How it is done.

How to become an organ donor (and how to stop being one)

The four ways to register your donation under Act 296-2002 — including the license’s donor consent — and who decides if you never said anything.

How to correct an error in your birth, marriage or death certificate

An archived vital record is not amended at the counter: it takes a court order or, since Act 282-1999, the notarial route. How each path works.

Medical cannabis: how to register and what the law actually allows

Act 42-2017’s patient registry: the medical recommendation, the Board ID, annual renewal, and the use rules that surprise many people.

Your rights as a patient: what the Bill of Rights says

Act 194-2000 made plain: emergency access regardless of ability to pay, information before deciding, your medical record, and the right to appeal a denial.

Education

School vaccines: the certificate, provisional enrollment and exemptions

Act 25-1983 requires the immunization certificate to enroll. What happens without it, when provisional enrollment applies, and which exemptions the law recognizes.

Public Utilities

Funeral homes: the price list and what else the law guarantees you

Every funeral home must give each client a list of the costs of each good and service. And a rented casket must be disclosed in writing beforehand.

PBM: your pharmacy’s middleman and what it may not do

A PBM may not contractually bar your pharmacy from telling you if something cheaper exists, nor deny a refill of a drug it already approved.

Down syndrome: therapy coverage and the right to sue

Act 97-2018 requires insurers to offer Down syndrome coverage from birth, and allows suing with attorney’s fees charged to the losing party.

HIV: confidentiality, employment, housing and your medication

Act 248-2018 bars disclosing your diagnosis without consent, requiring it to rent to you, or forced testing. Violating it is a misdemeanor.

Permanent tattoos: the age of 21, the licence on the wall and what they must tell you

Act 318-1999 bans tattooing anyone under 21, requires a Health Department licence visible in the studio, and a written declaration you sign beforehand.

Immunization Registry: requesting your vaccine record and fixing an error

Act 169-2019 lets you inspect and request a copy of your vaccines and your minor children’s, and ask the provider who gave the vaccine to fix an error.

Epilepsy Registry: your consent governs

Act 100-2019 requires doctors and insurers to report epilepsy cases, but only after obtaining the patient’s consent under HIPAA.

Prenatal, birth and postpartum care without health insurance

Act 105-2020 creates prenatal, birth and postpartum coverage for medically indigent pregnant women in Puerto Rico, regardless of migratory status.

Catastrophic Remediable Illness Fund: help when the plan does not cover

Act 150-1996 created a Health Department fund that pays, by grant or loan, life-saving diagnosis and treatment a health plan does not cover.

Puerto Rico Autism Registry: who registers and what it is for

It is not your paperwork: the law obliges the health professional to register. And the Registry can link you to services.

Work & Unemployment

Renewing or recertifying your health professional license (ORCPS)

Nurse, therapist, psychologist, pharmacist: renewed every three years, online, and with the ASUME negative certificate almost nobody remembers until the end.

Act 300 with fingerprints: the Puerto Rico Background Check Program

Who creates the application, the three public registries that can stop it, and which ID is accepted on the day of the appointment.

How to find out where your sexual assault evidence kit is

You search with the kit number and nothing else. If you do not have it, the CAVV helpline is available 24/7.

Safety & Licensing

CAVV: help for sexual assault survivors, no appointment or referral

24/7 helpline at 787-765-2285. It serves regardless of age, gender or how much time has passed, and family members too. No appointment or referral needed.

August 15, 2026

Telemedicine in Puerto Rico: what it is and how a professional is certified

Ley 168-2018 governs telemedicine in Puerto Rico. The professional needs Health Department certification, a PR licence and a licence where the patient is.

August 15, 2026

Talking labels: the pharmacy has 30 days to provide them if you cannot see

If you are blind or have partial visual impairment, you can request in writing that your pharmacy program labels that read the medicine instructions aloud.

Autism special coverage: no age limit, no cap on therapies

Act 163-2024 bans age limits and benefit or visit caps once medical necessity is established, and bans canceling the policy over the diagnosis.

Defibrillators: where the law requires one and requires knowing how to use it

Act 85-2007 requires a defibrillator at public facilities with over 200 people, and sets minimums by capacity at terminals, stadiums and halls.

Routine HIV test: it must be offered to you and your plan covers it

Act 45-2016 requires offering the HIV test in routine medical evaluations and requires plans to cover one test a year; two during pregnancy.

Vieques congenital conditions registry: what it collects and how it protects you

Act 280-2003 shielded it: not a public document, it cannot be used to restrict health coverage, and a child’s data is destroyed at age 12.

Another adult takes your child to the doctor: the authorization that makes it possible

Act 139-2019 lets you authorize non-urgent medical treatment in advance so your child is seen without you present. It lasts up to a year.

Public Utilities

Free veterinary clinics: the provisional licence that makes them possible

Act 86-2020 lets veterinarians licensed in the U.S. or Canada offer free services here with a shelter, through a provisional licence at no cost.

Vapes and minors: the sales ban and the sign the store must display

Act 41-2015 bans selling e-cigarettes to under-21s and requires every place that sells or gives them away to display visible warning signs.

Emergency room: they must evaluate you even if you cannot pay

Act 35-1994 requires every hospital, public or private, to evaluate you in an emergency regardless of ability to pay, and bars asking your immigration status.

Public Utilities

Donating food without fear of being sued: the good samaritan law

Act 66-1993 shields from civil and criminal liability anyone who donates healthy-looking food in good faith to a gleaner or a nonprofit.

Drinking water: when the system must notify you, and whom

Act 5-1977 requires a drinking water system to immediately notify public health, the Secretary and the media when it fails, with fines up to $5,000 per day.

Postpartum depression: the screening you are owed and the coverage your plan must give

Act 101-2023 requires every plan, including the Government one, to expressly cover screening and treatment for prepartum and postpartum depression.

The blood count at the oncologist’s office, without going to a lab

Act 99-2012 authorizes hematologist-oncologists to operate blood analyzers in their office for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Education

Oral exam certificate: which grades require it to enrol

Act 63-2017 requires the oral exam certificate in kindergarten, second, fourth, sixth, eighth and tenth grade, with provisional enrolment and 30 days to provide it.

Body piercing: the age, the sworn statement and the studio’s licence

Act 73-2003 bars body piercing on minors under 16 even with parental consent, and requires a parent’s sworn statement for those under 18.

Cybertherapy: the plan must pay for remote therapy the same

Act 48-2020 requires health insurers and ASES to pay for cybertherapy as if it were in person, and bars charging you if you did not accept it.

Hospital infections: the MRSA test and what they must tell you

Act 298-2012 requires a rapid MRSA test in five admission situations, immediate notice if positive and written instructions before discharge.

Newborn screening: the blood test for your baby

Act 84-1987 orders blood samples from every newborn in Puerto Rico, sets ten compulsory conditions and gives 48 hours to object by sworn declaration.

Mayagüez pediatric center: what services the law orders

Act 55-2017 creates the center for children with special needs at Hospital Materno Infantil San Antonio in Mayagüez and lists the services it must have.

Dialysis: the companion area and the patient’s rights

Act 53-2025 requires dialysis centres, public and private, to have a companion area, post a sign and answer to the Patient’s Ombudsman.

Benefits & Assistance

Free documents for people without housing: certificates and ID

Act 98-2025 gives Vital Records certificates, CRIM certifications and the DTOP ID card free of cost, with a liaison at each agency.

Rare diseases: the liaison office and the official registry

Act 9-2025 creates a Liaison Office at the Health Department with duties of orientation, access to orphan drugs and a confidential registry.

Folic acid: the material your OB-GYN must give you free

Act 11-2025 requires every OB-GYN office to hand out the Health Department material free, with a $100 to $500 fine for failing to.

Act 63-2025: what it prohibits and for whom, up to age 21

Act 63-2025 defines a minor as anyone under 21, prohibits certain treatments, leaves two written exceptions and sets a 15-year penalty.

Central Cancer Registry: what is reported and what is confidential

Act 113-2010 requires reporting every cancer case, makes identifying data strictly confidential and bars compelling you into a medical inspection.

Human Milk Bank: how to donate and who can receive

Act 88-2025 creates the Human Milk Bank under Health, and requires health plans to cover milk supply as an essential health benefit.

Work & Unemployment

Provisional licence for health professionals during an emergency

In a declared public health emergency, the Health Secretary can order provisional licences with no specialty exam.

Taking your medical record out of the health information exchange

Every patient can opt out of PRHIE, and reverse it whenever they want. No one may deny you treatment for doing so.

Work & Unemployment

Medical licence in Puerto Rico: what Act 46-2026 changed

Physicians licensed in the US need only four documents, and there is a free provisional licence for volunteer service. What the Board requires.

Loss before 20 weeks: your right to request the remains

Act 42-2026 lets the mother or father request the remains for burial or cremation. The hospital is obliged to coordinate the delivery.

Quitting smoking: your health plan covers up to $400 a year

Act 21-2008 requires health plans to cover services and medications for tobacco dependence up to a minimum of $400 annually per subscriber.

August 28, 2026

Hospital emergency codes: what each one means

Act 170-2011 sets ten identical codes for every health facility, public or private. In Puerto Rico blue means disaster; cardiac arrest is green.

August 28, 2026

Controlled substances inspectors: what they can do

Act 60-2026 clarifies that the Health Inspectors of the Controlled Substances Division hold law-enforcement powers, subject to Justice Department certification.

Benefits & Assistance

The essential services voucher for significant disabilities

Act 176-2008 creates a voucher for adults 21 to 59 with significant disabilities: personal assistance, therapies, medical equipment, respite and more.

Leaving Special Education: the transition starts 12 months before

Act 105-2016 creates a Health Department division for adults 22 and over, and requires the transition assessment a year before leaving Special Education.

How a death is determined to be disaster-related

Act 63-2023 sets the protocol for classifying disaster-related deaths, the centre where families give information, and who publishes the official figures.

Pregnant minor: prenatal care without parental consent

Act 27-1992 lets an unemancipated pregnant minor receive prenatal and postpartum care without her parents’ prior consent.

August 30, 2026

Right to a companion during labour and birth

Act 156-2006 gives you the right to choose who accompanies you in pre-labour, birth and postpartum, and the Women’s Advocate handles complaints.

August 30, 2026

Birth certificate and Real ID on release

For someone with six months or less left to serve, Act 61-2019 gives a free first copy of the birth certificate and of the Real ID.

August 31, 2026