A news about "the body of the deceased was stored in the mortuary of the Third Hospital of Peking University for less than three days, and a * * * cost more than 38,000 yuan" caused widespread concern and strong response in social development, and the masses began to question the sky-high funeral expenses. What is a "one-stop" funeral service with many items? Is there price fraud in expensive funeral expenses? Why does the field of funeral services fall into a regulatory blind spot? The reporter made a follow-up report.
According to news media reports, the lover of Mr. Deng (surnamed Hua), a Beijing citizen, died at home in the middle and late February, and her family sent her body to the mortuary of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University for temporary storage, waiting for the body to be cremated three days later. However, when it settled the expenses, it received a new funeral service confirmation form with a total amount of more than 38,000 yuan, including shower SPA, food supply, Qiling Cotai Strip and many other contents.
The Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Comprehensive Law Enforcement Corps conducted an on-site inspection in the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University, and read the original materials of direct evidence about funeral service charges on the spot. (Source: Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Comprehensive Law Enforcement Corps)
According to the latest news, on-site inspection by Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau, Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau and Beijing Municipal Health and Health Commission found that Beijing Paradise Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd., a company involved in the case, will be investigated and dealt with in strict accordance with the regulations because of a series of problems, such as suspected false prices, failure to implement the clear price tag of government departments, and unauthorized changes in the business process of corpse storage and custody. However, according to the bidding meeting, Beijing Paradise Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd. did not strictly implement the service agreement signed with the enterprise to supervise the company, and lost control of the company's illegal business practices.
The Beijing Municipal Health and Health Commission said that at this stage, it has carried out a special inspection on the outsourcing of hospital mortuary business in our city, and will study and formulate policies to improve hospital mortuary management services and maintain public hospital services to further respond to the concerns of the masses.
The Regulations on Funeral Management revised on 20 18 clearly stipulates that funeral service agencies shall not shirk, cheat, bind or force transactions. The Notice on Further Improving the Management of Funeral Service Charges issued by the Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau also clearly pointed out that the funeral service price shall be subject to the unified current policy and classified management in our city, and the government department pricing, government guidance price and market adjustment price shall be implemented according to the service key level and market competition standards. The industry insiders in the funeral field interviewed said that the above-mentioned suspected funeral etiquette celebration company was suspected of using the current policy to "opportunistic", unable to make an objective distinction under the sad mentality of the family members of the deceased, and defrauded customers in the process of market sales and service.
Find an excuse to extend the service project to "efforts". According to the Notice on Further Improving the Charge and Management of Funeral Services issued by Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, funeral services in Beijing are divided into basic funeral services and extended services. Professionals have shown that five types of service charges, such as corpse cosmetic surgery and body preservation, are independently priced by the civil affairs department, and some hospital morgues have made great efforts in extending services, resulting in the inflated price of funeral service fees. For example, new projects such as SPA, gratitude and filial piety, and carrying money are all services provided by funeral enterprises under various pretexts.
Deceive customers through sadness. A number of interviewed customers told reporters that many hospital morgues will use their families to immerse themselves in the sadness of losing their families and unexpectedly promote products and funeral services. The reporter found that the above-mentioned new funeral projects suspected of being priced by the company, such as the new "spa shower" project to clean up the painted bodies, cost between 2,990 yuan and 7,990 yuan. Many customers can't think too much when their families are away, and it is not easy to care too much. This is the knot of the middle funeral enterprises. Professionals show that all new projects such as corpse cleaning and corpse shaping are only about 1 1,000 yuan, and the price difference is many times.
The company is registered as a funeral service, and the control right belongs to the "black zone". The reporter found out that the suspected company Beijing Paradise Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd. set up funeral etiquette services, corpse transportation and storage services, funeral home management services, cemetery burial services, retail funeral appliances and other services. When registering an account, but in the process of operation, except for new projects priced by government departments, civil affairs can't control it. Although there are relevant policy requirements, the hospital mortuary is not a real-time management method of civil affairs, and it is impossible to complete the whole process of control. In addition, although the hospital deducted the relevant management measures and site application fees, it was unable to supervise the entire operation process of the suspected enterprises, forming a "black zone" for management and control.
"Funeral is a great event for the benefit of the people." Chen Kai, a senior partner of Beijing Zhong Kai Law Firm, suggested that hospital mortuary should be prevented from becoming a "blind area" for management and control. For such enterprises engaged in funeral-related services in industrial and commercial registration, they can also report to the Civil Affairs Office, and the sales market supervision institutions and the Civil Affairs Office will jointly strengthen supervision, clarify the management mechanism, and prevent unclear responsibilities. As a place provider, the hospital is also the "port number" of people's livelihood services, and it is also necessary to strengthen the responsibilities of supervision posts.
Zhu Wei, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law, suggested that at the decision-making level, there is huge profit space and bargaining space in the field of funeral and interment, which has a strong industry monopoly. Most of them provide "one-stop" services, and customers mostly choose passively, lacking bargaining space and bargaining power. In this field, government departments should adjust specific guidance prices, not sales markets. It is proposed that the price transparency of funeral services should give consumers the right to know, make their own decisions and control fair competition.
In recent years, Beijing has conducted demonstration sites in some hospitals to strengthen the connection between funeral homes and hospitals and weaken the role of commercial funeral services in hospital morgues. For example, hospitals only set up contact points for funeral services, hospitals provide places and equipment, and funeral homes provide business personnel, and there is no cost between them. The service point provides completely free funeral consultation, and contacts a reliable funeral home to let relatives accept the remains. The hospital provides completely free services such as corpse transportation and storage within 24 hours. Funeral utensils are publicized and the price is not mandatory.
Change customs, reduce the "wind of reburial" living soil layer. In recent years, although the means of control have increased, all kinds of "sky-high funeral expenses", "sky-high tombs" and "sky-high shroud" are still banned repeatedly. Experts believe that while strengthening the supervision standards in the field of funeral and interment and allowing proper socialization, we should advocate the new filial piety of "cultivating thick funerals and thin ones", so that green funeral, green ecological funeral and frugal funeral will become a new atmosphere, and "reduce the burden" for the relatives of the deceased and the protection of the ecological environment, so that companies that make profits from high-priced funeral and superstitious activities lack living soil.