New proposal to allow terminal patients to withdraw MPF funds - only one year before death

Dying people should be able to withdraw their Mandatory Provident Fund savings more than 12 months before their projected death, the government has been told.

Proposed changes to the MPF ordinance would allow terminally ill people to withdraw their money upon providing medical documents showing they have only a year to live.

But Confederation of Trade Unions policy researcher Poon Man-hon said the requirement proposed by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau was "too stringent".

"We think the bureau should consider following many insurance companies' policies on people with serious diseases or disabilities, to allow them to withdraw their accrued benefits earlier," he said at a meeting of a Legislative Council bills committee studying the changes.

Poon said this could allow such people to use the money for medical care and other expenses.

But Eddie Cheung Kwok-choi, deputy secretary for financial services and the treasury, said the bureau made the decision after discussing it with doctors, who agreed that it would be scientifically difficult to give a life expectancy longer than a year. Australia had a similar scheme set at one year, Cheung said.