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The three-day exemption from new mortuary charges effective next year at Hong Kong public hospitals will be extended to four weeks, the government has said, after the move sparked controversy. The Health Bureau and Hospital Authority made the announcement on Saturday after the funeral sector criticised the tiered fee structure earlier this week, saying it would penalise families for delays in after-death arrangements. “We considered public opinion and stakeholder feedback and will refine the charging arrangements for our mortuaries,” Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said. “We aim for these charges to guide the public towards prudent use of our existing healthcare resources.” The revised arrangement will mean that there are no charges for storing a body for four weeks after death, HK$200 (US$26) per day in the fifth week, and HK$550 per day from the sixth week. The arrangement will go into effect from January 1 next year. Lo stressed that the move was not to boost government income but to reduce the pressure on the Hospital Authority, as some mortuaries were operating beyond capacity, which was “not ideal”. He pointed out that cremation could usually be carried out within three weeks, as the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, which offers the service, provided a slot within 15 days. “We now have four weeks, in which we factored in a buffer,” Lo said. Libby Lee Ha-yun, chief executive of the Hospital Authority, said that according to past data, 80 per cent of bodies were moved out of public hospital mortuaries within 28 days. She noted that for the remaining 20 per cent, around half were eligible for financial subsidies, meaning only about 10 per cent of bodies would incur charges under the revised measures. Lee added that the authority’s data showed that 95 per cent of death certificates were issued within three days so families could process funeral arrangements. Asked whether authorities had consulted the public before announcing the changes, she said: “In the entire [public hospital] fees reform, we have been in close contact with patients and consulted them.” “We have learnt a lesson, and may expand the consultation to cover a wider scope in the future,” she added. More details will be announced at a press conference to be held by the authority on Saturday afternoon. The new measures, first announced last Friday, would introduce fees next year for mortuary services that are currently free at public hospitals. The initially proposed tiered fee structure stipulated that there would be no charges for storing a body for three days after death. The daily charge would then increase incrementally – HK$100 (US$13) per day from day four; HK$200 from day 18; and HK$550 from day 34 onwards. The authority earlier said that the new rates were determined after considering hospital operations and the cost of similar services in the market. Under the plan, deceased patients who were recipients of benefits such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance or Old Age Living Allowance would be granted full exemption from the new mortuary charges. Also, if a patient had already qualified for full or partial medical fee waivers from public hospitals during their lifetime, their families would receive corresponding full or partial reductions for mortuary charges after the person’s death. Official statistics showed the average annual number of deaths in Hong Kong between 2021 and 2024 stood at 55,500. According to official figures, Hong Kong’s 38 public hospital mortuaries can hold 3,300 bodies, as of last December. Apart from these, the city’s four public mortuaries, managed by the Department of Health, have a capacity of about 1,280 bodies. According to a Town Planning Board document in August, the public mortuaries can accommodate demand until 2031. To address the projected needs by 2046 and “manage surges during pandemics”, the government plans to reprovision the Victoria Public Mortuary, increasing storage capacity to over 2,000 at a cost HK$1.209 billion (US$155.5 million), the document said. It added that 80 hectares (198 acres) of land could “still be considered for other burial and related facilities, as well as mortuary facilities”.
