HONG KONG, CHINA | Ombudsman announces results of direct investigation operation into public services relating to after-death arrangements

On 18 December 2024, the Ombudsman, Mr Jack Chan, announced the completion of a direct investigation operation into the public services relating to after-death arrangements, and made a total of 10 major recommendations to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (“FEHD”), the Department of Health (“DH”), the Hospital Authority (“HA”) and the Immigration Department (“ImmD”).

For the live broadcast of the press conference, please watch the replay on the Office’s YouTube channel.

With an ageing trend in Hong Kong’s population, the demand for public services relating to after-death arrangements, including death registration matters, mortuary services and funeral arrangements is expected to continue to rise.  The dissemination of information on relevant services is very important to the public.

Various government departments are responsible for public services relating to after-death arrangements. The DH and the HA provide mortuary services and issue death documents while the ImmD handles death registrations. As regards funeral arrangements, cremations, burials, handling of cremated ashes and green burials, the bereaved are required to submit applications and follow up with FEHD. Members of the public can go to the joint offices set up by ImmD, DH and FEHD to register deaths and apply for a cremation for some death cases. However, the joint offices do not handle applications for burials.

Currently, information about after-death arrangements can be found on the Services and Support for the Bereaved webpage on the government website, Gov.HK. Nevertheless, the bereaved have to click on the links to websites of different government departments, one by one, to look for the information they need, which is difficult to find from the linked websites.

Mr Chan said, “It takes time to heal the pain of losing a loved one. During that period of time, family members not only have to face the grief of losing their loved ones, but also have to deal with cumbersome after-death arrangements. Under this kind of pressure, family members may feel helpless and anxious. My Office expects the information on various public services to be more easily accessible and clearly understood so family members can find the information they need quickly, avoiding anxiety and confusion due to insufficient information, and do not need to worry about missing any important steps.

“After the Office initiated this direct investigation operation, the Office is pleased to note that the FEHD launched the After-death Arrangements thematic website in November this year, aiming to provide information focusing on green burials and after-death arrangements provided by the department.  We recommend that based on this online platform by FEHD, other departments and authorities, including ImmD, DH and HA, should explore the development of a truly interdepartmental one-stop thematic website, with the function of an online application for the relevant after-death public services to enable family members to complete the relevant procedures more expeditiously to save them the inconvenience of having to go to the offices of different departments in person to apply for various services.”

Kindly click here to read the complete article.

Source: The Office of the Ombudsman Hong Kong, China