PETALING JAYA: Hospital staff are strictly prohibited from accepting any form of gratification or bribes for mortuary services, warns the Health Ministry.
“They are prohibited from receiving any gift, contribution, payment or inducement that could be considered a bribe or corruption in managing deceased patients.
This includes providing information or personal details of the deceased to external parties or individuals involved in funeral management,” the ministry said in a recent circular.
It said any wrongdoing or corrupt activity related to mortuary services must be reported, adding that the hospital’s role ends once the remains are handed over to the deceased’s family.
The ministry said the deceased’s family is responsible for managing the remains, and the hospital is not allowed to recommend any funeral services to them.
Hospitals may, however, provide a list of funeral service operators from the state Islamic religious council but it is up to the next of kin to choose their preferred service.
Hospitals do not provide funeral management services such as bathing, shrouding, embalming or transporting the body overseas, it added.
However, in cases involving victims of gruesome accidents, decomposed bodies, infectious disease patients or other situations deemed appropriate by the Forensic Department, the hospital may provide a bathing room if available.
Last year, five staff members of a government hospital in Seremban were charged with accepting bribes ranging from RM600 to RM2,250 for mortuary services between 2021 and 2023.
