The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

FUNERAL directors yesterday expressed opposition to having to pay act as "enforcers" in collecting morgue fees, telling Tribune Business: "The Government should collect itself."

Several funeral directors, speaking with Tribune Business, said they had no opposition to the fees themselves but took exception to paying them "upfront" and then having to recoup these monies from the deceased's family,

Kenneth Clarke, director of Clark's Home and Crematorium, said: "The Government can levy whatever fees they want. I don't have a problem with that. What they want is us to do is enforce the fees, and I have a problem with that. "They want the funeral home to pay for the body. They need to tell the family they have to pay Princess Margaret Hospital's accounts department before the funeral home can take the remains."

He added: "They want us to pay and charge the family in a professional fee. If the Government has a tax they should collect it up front.

"Half of the time we have problems collecting our own fees.

"They want us to pay these fees and hope to get it back from family. I am not in a position to do that. Again, I have no problem personally with the fees, but it's the way they want to collect."

Dr Duane Sands, minister of health, told The Tribune this week that a variety of Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) fees will be likely raised in the new fiscal year. This includes the storage fee when remains at the morgue are not collected on time.

Late last year, funeral directors protested against the proposed hike, prompting Dr Sands to halt and review the plan along with some 400-plus proposed fee changes. But he told The Tribune this week: "I expect those fees I'm minded to approve will go into effect in the new fiscal year. In the meantime, there is no real penalty to store bodies at PMH." The new fiscal year begins on July 1.

According to previous Tribune reports, bodies undergoing private autopsies will incur between a $500 and $700 charge. Additionally, autopsies of any remains collected from wards at the hospital would incur fees ranging from $250 to $350.

Moreover, the new fee structure calls for a $100 handling fee for all remains, and a $50 per day late fee for any remains not collected on time.

Denalee Penn-Mackey, director of Evergreen Mortuary, told Tribune Business: "My position is I never had a problem with the fees but the manner in which it is done. I can appreciate that the Government needs revenue to provide better quality standards for their departments, but what happened is they levied the fees to funeral homes to pay and our position is you need to make the public aware and let the PHA collect its own fees. "The Minister has indicated that he wants to give us a new morgue. If they implement fees, what can we do."