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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-hing and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (March 4):
Question:
Some social welfare organisations (SWOs) have relayed to me that they have encountered many difficulties in providing burial services at low fees to people in need. For example, they must engage a licensed undertaker to take charge of burial matters as required by law, and the service charges of crematoria in the urban areas are not the same as those in the New Territories. Furthermore, given that there is a tight supply of cremation sessions, which are allocated to those on the queue on a first-come-first-served basis, and each person is allowed to book a maximum of five sessions, most cremation sessions are taken by the undertakers and, as a result, SWOs are not able to book such sessions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will amend the relevant legislation to allow SWOs to handle burial matters on their own; if it will not, of the reasons for that;
(b) whether it will improve the arrangements for cremation booking, for example, by setting aside some cremation sessions for SWOs; and
(c) why the service charges of crematoria in the urban areas and those in the New Territories are not uniform?
Reply:
President,
(a) Businesses in burial must apply for a licence from the Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene under section 92AB of the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap 132). Social welfare organisations (SWOs), like other persons, may apply for a licence in accordance with the law, and will not face additional restrictions. As a matter of fact, there are at present a total of 94 licensed undertakers of burials, SWOs included.
It is worthy to note that according to the Undertakers of Burials Regulations (Cap. 132CB), "undertaker of burials" means a person whose trade or business is to undertake duties connected with the burial of human cadavers, and the definition of "burial" includes "cremation". Any person who applies for burial or cremation services is therefore required to provide information of the hired licensed undertaker of burials to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). This is to regulate the handling of human remains according to the law and maintain the relevant record for future inspection if necessary.
(b) Many members of the public choose to entrust undertakers of burials to arrange one-stop after-death services, including booking of cremation services, for the deceased. After discussion with the representatives of the funeral trade, FEHD has implemented the following arrangements for booking of cremation service since 2003. Under the arrangement, a person waiting for booking of cremation service will be allocated a maximum of five "chips", if they can provide evidence of an equal number of authorisations for booking cremation service. Therefore, the public would not need to book cremation services in person. The allocation of a maximum of five "chips" to authorised undertakers also helps shorten the queue. At the same time, this arrangement can cater for the needs of families who opt to book cremation service in person. The first-come-first-served principle would also be upheld.
At present, SWOs who are also licensed undertakers may be directly authorised by the family of the deceased to arrange after-death services, including booking of cremation service, without the need to route through other licensed undertakers. If the deceased has no relatives in Hong Kong, SWOs may directly arrange after-death services for the deceased, provided that the situation is stated in the cremation application form.
If a SWO is not a licensed undertaker, it may book cremation service for the deceased at the Cremation Booking Office with an application form bearing the chop of a licensed undertaker, or book through a licensed undertaker.
Similar to any other person waiting for cremation booking, if a SWO represents more than one deceased person (either through authorisation of family members or because the deceased has no family members in Hong Kong), and has the relevant application forms for cremation service, the SWO may also be allocated with a maximum of five "chips". The above arrangements are fair, just and effective, and need not be revised.
(c) At present, the service charges of government crematoria for adult cremation and child cremation are HK$1,300 and HK$650 respectively in the urban area, and HK$1,220 and HK$915 respectively in the New Territories. The levels of service charges were determined by the two former Municipal Councils. The Administration is conducting a review on the alignment of the fee levels of the two former municipal councils, and will formulate proposals for adjusting the fees in accordance with the "user pays" principle, and the affordability and acceptance of the public.
Ends/Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:39
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