Coronavirus: Hong Kong police to help families collect bodies of loved ones in public hospitals from next week
- From next Monday, officers will help contact the families for identification of bodies in a bid to expedite processing of patients who died in emergency rooms
- Lawmaker Vincent Cheng suggests authorities set up a hotline service for families to inquire about location of bodies and related arrangements
Hong Kong police will be deployed to help residents collect bodies of their loved ones in public hospitals from next Monday, amid complaints that families were unable to do so with the city battling a fifth wave of coronavirus infections.
The Department of Health said on Thursday that to expedite the processing of patients who died in emergency rooms, police would help contact the families for the identification of bodies.
“Police have started calling the next of kin to arrange for the necessary procedures in a prompt manner, and have provided telephone numbers for inquiries by the next of kin,” it said.
“Starting from next Monday, the next of kin may identify the body at the storage facility as arranged by police.”
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It said body storage capacity had been increased to about 2,300 since March 1 after about 50 refrigerated containers were set up near Fu Shan Public Mortuary in Sha Tin. More than 1,500 bodies had been stored in the facility since March 5.
Patients who died in emergency rooms are required to be moved to public mortuaries and will be handled by the department.