Funeral costs soar amid hospital service shift

Macau residents are facing a nearly 50% increase in funeral transport fees due to the transfer of legal medical services and mortuary homes to the Islands Hospital, raising concerns about transparency and potential exploitation by the funeral services industry.

The transfer of services to the Islands Hospital, which occurred in early May, has allowed for a doubling of the capacity to store bodies and the provision of more modern facilities. However, the cost of removing corpses from the Kiang Wu Hospital’s mortuary homes has risen from 1,500 to 2,200 patacas, an increase of almost 50%.

Despite the government’s denial of responsibility for the price hike, the Health Bureau (SSM), in a reply to lawmaker Ron Lam’s written inquiry, acknowledged that the body did not increase the fees for the use of refrigerated chambers due to this transfer of services. The director also stated that the performance of the funeral services is in the private sphere.

The Consumer Council, noted that the council can investigate cases of unjustifiably high price variations or sharp fluctuations. In 2022 and 2023, the council received five complaints related to funeral services, but no complaints have been registered this year.

The issue has also sparked concerns over the lack of transparency in funeral service fees. Lam recently presented a request for debate in the Legislative Assembly to discuss the construction of a public crematory, as cremating a body in Hong Kong costs around MOP1,300, while residents of Macau pay more than MOP15,000, or 10 times more, due to the need to send bodies to mainland China.

The SSM revealed that a website dedicated to funeral affairs is to be launched, which will take into account the enforcement of the alteration to the Civil Code. The issue was particularly debated during the Covid-19 pandemic, when there was a lack of response capacity to deal with the significant increase in deaths in the territory. Victoria Chan