Denying funeral services to Aids patients compounds the grief of families and friends already hit by the death, according to an expert on the disease.
'A decent funeral always means a lot to families. But for Aids patients, there will be no make-up, no religious rituals and no proper clothing. They just disappear. It is so unfair,' said Rita Chung Wai-yee, a nursing specialist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital's Aids Unit said.
She was speaking after the South China Morning Post revealed that all six funeral homes refused to take the bodies of those they knew had died of Aids.
Ms Chung said the lack of a funeral became an 'unresolved grief' for families, who had no chance to say goodbye and used a service as an emotional outlet.
On one occasion, a team of undertakers refused to handle an Aids patient's corpse after it had arrived at the hospital mortuary and saw the plastic bags wrapping the body, indicating the deceased had an infectious disease.
Angry and insulted relatives, who had already paid argued with the undertakers, Ms Chung said.
With no choice, the undertakers dumped the body into the coffin and nailed the lid shut, giving no chance of a public viewing. The body was then cremated in a rush.