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China's National Health Commission (NHC) with multiple government departments on Monday released a regulation on full-process service management for deceased patients in medical and health institutions, which specifies that for normal deaths with a clear cause of death, medical institutions must issue a death certificate within one day of the death or of the family's application.
The regulation consists of 12 articles and sets out specific provisions including the management of the issuance of death certificates, the temporary storage and transfer of remains, regulation of medical and healthcare institution services, and the implementation of departmental responsibilities.
The regulation clearly defines responsibility for issuing death certificates. For normal deaths occurring in medical institutions or on the way to the hospital, the treating medical institution is responsible for issuing the medical certificate of death (Inferred). For normal deaths occurring at home or in other locations, the local township health center or community health service center should issue the certificate. For abnormal deaths that require certification, the local public security police station is responsible.
The regulation also requires medical institutions to streamline procedures for handling remains and allows them to set up temporary storage areas for remains, with mortuaries providing storage services only. After a patient's death, the body should be promptly moved to the storage area and the family notified to contact a funeral home for transfer. In general, the body should not be stored in the temporary area for more than 24 hours, and in special circumstances should be transferred to a funeral home as soon as possible.
Futhermore, the regulation sets out several strict prohibitions, drawing clear red lines for services provided by medical institutions, with bans on display or sale of funeral goods in any area of the institution and prohibition on outsourcing mortuaries or introducing third parties to provide funeral services. Receiving or storing bodies from outside the institution and the use of pre-hospital emergency vehicles or non-emergency medical transfer vehicles to transport bodies are also forbidden.
To protect the privacy of the deceased and their families and to prevent information leaks and induced consumption, the regulation requires medical institutions to establish personal information protection mechanisms. Staff members are forbidden from illegally providing information on bereaved families or recommending or inducing them to consume services at designated funeral institutions. Medical institutions must also provide notification forms and hotline numbers for reporting violations.
In another document released by the NHC on Monday, it was made clear that the introduction of this regulation is set against the backdrop of a nationwide special campaign launched in October 2024 to tackle corruption and misconduct in the funeral sector. Multiple regions have publicly collected clues related to problems in this campaign.
Previously,data showed that at least 18 practitionersin the funeral service sector across the country, including those in East China's Anhui, Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces, Southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and Northeast China's Jilin and Liaoning provinces, had come under corruption investigation since the beginning of this year, as regions across China rolled out campaigns to root out misconduct and corruption in the funeral and burial sector.
The new regulation stresses strengthened coordination among supervisory authorities. Health authorities will oversee the issuance of death certificates and the management of venues within medical institutions, civil affairs departments will supervise the timely transfer of bodies by funeral homes and hand over clues on violations, public security authorities will punish acts that disrupt medical order, and market regulators will address illegal pricing practices in funeral services around medical institutions. Violations will be strictly investigated and punished, and suspected crimes will be transferred to judicial organs.
Source:
Editor: Crystal H
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