Every person in charge of an institution, public or private, to which persons resort for treatment of diseases, confinements, or are committed by law, shall record all the personal and statistical particulars relative to those persons admitted or confined to their institutions that are required on the forms or the certificates prescribed by the board. The record shall be made by them at the time of admission of the patients and at such other times as may be required. The personal and statistical particulars and information shall be obtained from the individuals themselves, if it is practicable to do so, and when they can not be so obtained, they shall be secured in as complete a manner as possible from relatives, friends or other persons acquainted with the facts.