【People's Livelihood Investigation Bureau】
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China News Service, April 12 (Reporter Zhang Ni) Recently, the media revealed that the incident of "a tertiary hospital in Beijing charging sky-high funeral fees" has attracted continuous attention.
The investigation of Zhongxin Finance and Economics found that the company involved in the incident undertook funeral services for the mortuaries of several medical institutions in Beijing. A hospital insider revealed that such a phenomenon did not occur in a hospital...
Who sets the price for funeral services in a hospital mortuary?
Is there any regulation behind it?
It cost nearly 40,000 yuan to store the remains in less than 3 days
The deceased was charged "meal money", a "gratitude and filial piety" fee was as high as 5,990 yuan, and the funeral service fee totaled tens of thousands of yuan...
Recently, some people exposed to the media that the family members died and were charged sky-high funeral service fees in a tertiary hospital in Beijing.
Among them, the remains of a relative of a citizen spent less than 38,000 yuan in the mortuary for less than three days.
Recently, some media exposed the incident of sky-high funeral expenses and attracted attention (screenshot from @ Beijing Minsheng)
Regulatory authorities: Suspected of price violations
Shortly after the incident was exposed by the media, the official Weibo of the Ministry of Civil Affairs @ Civil Affairs Weiyu announced that: On April 8, after the media revealed that "a tertiary hospital in Beijing charges sky-high funeral fees", the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision and Law Enforcement Corps jointly The Haidian District Law Enforcement Brigade attacked immediately and went to
the mortuary of Peking University Third Hospital
in the morning to conduct an on-site inspection
to verify the charges for funeral services. Evidence materials related to funeral services were collected on the spot.
After preliminary verification,
Beijing Tiantang Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd., which contracted the mortuary of the hospital, was suspected of illegal pricing in the process of charging for funeral services
.
In the next step, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision and Law Enforcement Team will set up a joint investigation team to investigate the company involved, find out the illegal facts as soon as possible, and promptly and strictly investigate and deal with it according to the law, so as to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of the masses and ensure a good funeral and consumption environment.
Screenshot from the official Weibo of the Ministry of Civil Affairs @ Civil Affairs Weiyu
Investigation: The company involved won the bid for funeral services in several hospitals in Beijing
Such outrageous charges have raised public doubts.
Who sets the standard for "high price"?
What is the origin of the Beijing Tiantang Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd. involved?
Zhongxin Finance found that the company was established in 2008 with a registered capital of 5 million. Its industry is residential services, repairs and other services. Its business scope includes: funeral etiquette services; body removal and storage services; funeral home management services; cemetery burial Serve.
Information consultation (excluding intermediary services); conference services; technology promotion; technology consultation; enterprise management; translation services; retail funeral supplies.
The relevant person in charge of the funeral company said in an interview with the media earlier that the company
contracted the funeral
service .
The Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University also told the media earlier that the funeral company had indeed entered the hospital through bidding to provide services for the deceased.
"
This is a problem for the entire funeral industry. This company is responsible for the morgues of many hospitals, not only the
third hospital of Beijing Medical University ." An insider from a hospital in Beijing revealed to Zhongxin Finance.
Zhongxin Finance noticed that a public announcement from Peking University Shougang Hospital in July 2021 showed that Beijing Tiantang Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd. also won the bid for the hospital's mortuary funeral service.
Screenshot from the website of Peking University Shougang Hospital
On the 11th, the reporter contacted two staff members in the company and asked about the company's current operation, but both of them said that their work did not involve the above-mentioned business, and they were unclear about the company's specific business operation.
Why are there "astronomical" funeral expenses in the hospital?
After the "astronomical" funeral expenses in the hospital mortuary were exposed, the public couldn't help but wonder: Does the government have charging standards for related services for "death affairs"?
Is it legal for funeral service companies to charge sky-high prices?
In fact, in 2018, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs issued the "Notice on Further Doing a Good Job in the Charges and Management of Funeral Services". According to this document, the charges for funeral services included in the pricing catalog include nine categories, among which the charges for basic funeral services There are four categories, and there are five categories of charges for other funeral services.
Standard of charging items for some funeral services (extended services) in Beijing
There are four types of charges for basic funeral services, namely, transportation of remains, refrigerated storage, cremation, and ashes storage.
There are five types of charges for other funeral services, namely paid service cemetery tomb rental fee, management fee, body cosmetic surgery, body embalming, condolence facilities and equipment rental fees, which are formulated by the competent civil affairs department.
In addition, according to the above documents,
funeral services that are not included in the Beijing Pricing Catalog are subject to market-adjusted prices
.
According to media reports, the General Affairs Office of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University had previously stated that their fees were charged in accordance with the regulations on funeral and interment management of the Civil Affairs Bureau.
In addition, in the payment items of the two people who reported the problem to the media this time, some items, including the 30 yuan per day for the storage of the remains, were included in the government pricing catalog, while the vast majority of the fees came from other fancy names. Derivatives are subject to market-adjusted prices.
In other words,
there is currently no clear government pricing for some derivative services, and the pricing of the companies involved is suspected of "taking advantage of loopholes"
.
However, Zhongxin Finance noticed that the above-mentioned documents issued by Beijing clearly stated that the principle of fairness and voluntariness must be followed, and it is
strictly forbidden to bundle, split or force the provision of services and charges in any form, and it is not allowed to restrict or adopt methods such as increasing surcharges in disguised form. Restrict the use of legal funeral supplies by the bereaved family
.
In addition, the relevant laws and regulations clearly state that the relevant departments or units should be seriously investigated for their main responsibilities and related violations, such as not following the price management policy, not implementing clearly marked prices, selling goods at a price increase other than the marked price, or forced buying and selling, bundling and other illegal acts. The direct responsibility of the responsible person.
The Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University responded: Cooperate with the investigation and resolutely rectify
The media reported that Beijing Tiantang Xianghe Funeral Service Co., Ltd., which contracted the mortuary business of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University, charged high funeral fees during the funeral service process.
On the evening of the 11th, the Third Hospital of Peking University issued a statement saying that the hospital attached great importance to this and set up a special team to actively cooperate with relevant government departments to conduct in-depth investigations and resolutely rectify as required.
The Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University sincerely accepts the supervision of all sectors of society, deeply reflects, earnestly performs its duties, strengthens management, and does follow-up work in accordance with laws and regulations.
China-Singapore Micro-Review: The gap in the supervision of "behind the scenes" needs to be filled urgently
For Chinese people, "the dead are the greatest" has always been rooted in the traditional concept. Therefore, many people also pay special attention to the "death" of their relatives.
Undertaking funeral services was originally a solemn and solemn thing, but driven by interests, exploiting the "loopholes" of laws and regulations, setting up various service fees under various names, and even charging "dinner money" and "bath spa fees"... These acts of extending "black hands" to the deceased are not only "sprinkling salt in the wounds" of the bereaved family members, but also disrespectful to the deceased.
For this kind of bottomless behavior, the regulatory authorities need to have zero tolerance and take timely measures to fill the gaps in the laws, regulations and supervision of ordinary people's "behind the scenes"!
(Finish)