FEHD assists sectors of funeral business and bereaved families in early handling of after-death arrangements

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) today (March 9) said that its five crematoria have further increased their cremation sessions and extended service hours till late hours, with a view to assisting sectors of the funeral business and bereaved families to handle after-death arrangements for the deceased as early as possible. The FEHD will take the lead to organise a webinar tomorrow (March 10), inviting relevant departments/organisation and the trade to exchange views on streamlining the workflow holistically and shortening the time required.

A spokesman for the FEHD said, "In response to the recent keen demand for cremation services, the FEHD has earlier increased the daily cremation sessions from 130-140 to 180-200, and further increased the daily cremation sessions recently to the current 260-280. All crematoria (except Cheung Chau with a very limited patronage) have extended their service hours till late hours in order to offer more sessions for the public. Currently, there remain sufficient cremation sessions available. We hope that these could be used optimally."

In addition, a number of government departments, public organisation and the funeral trade are engaged in the handling of after-death arrangements. As such, to facilitate smooth operation of every segment, the FEHD will take the lead on the co-ordination work and organise a webinar tomorrow afternoon, inviting relevant departments/organisation and the trade to participate, exchanging candid views on how to rationalise the workflow holistically and shortening the time required. The video of the webinar will be uploaded onto FEHD's webpage (www.fehd.gov.hk) for reference.

Last week, the FEHD organised an online talk and webinar with the funeral trade, and the Centre for Health Protection was invited to provide a refresher briefing on the precautionary measures in the handling of dead bodies.  The video of the webinar has been uploaded onto the FEHD webpage (www.fehd.gov.hk/english/cc/webinar_funeral_trade.html).

Ends/Wednesday, March 9, 2022