Hong Kong authorities should improve mortuary services and streamline procedures for death registration and cremation arrangements to ease pressure on mortuaries, according to a lawmaker.
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Edward Lau Kwok-fan’s comments came on Monday, following the government’s decision to end free storage of bodies in public mortuaries, which sparked controversy and led to an extension of the original proposed three-day exemption of charges to four weeks.
Speaking on a radio show, he said the government was receptive to advice from society but should still offer more flexibility for the bereaved, such as allowing those with a reasonable excuse to delay collecting bodies.
Lau also called for the establishment of a one-stop platform to handle procedures for obtaining documents from public hospitals, registering the death of the deceased at the Immigration Department and arranging cremation services.
“The government can take the opportunity to set up a one-stop platform so that the bereaved do not need to run around in pain and simplify the process,” he said, adding that it could also list out other assistance offered by NGOs.
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Lau added that the government should increase its sensitivity to future changes in public charges and look into the reasons for delays in collecting bodies.
Speaking on the same radio show, Cheng Chi-kit, chairman of the Funeral Business Association, said there were only individual cases in which bodies were not collected within 28 days.