The Hospital Authority said on Saturday it has made the decision to extend the free period for bodies to be kept in its mortuaries and expects less than 10 percent of people will need to pay under a new arrangement that will take effect in January.

Under the new plan, bodies can be kept in public hospital mortuaries free of charge for up to 28 days, an extension from the three days initially proposed recently.

The daily fee starts at HK$200 from the 29th day, increasing to HK$550 from the 36th day.

Michael Wong, the director of quality and safety, said the authority's mortuaries could store up to 3,360 bodies but were still not enough to cope given the long periods that some bodies were being left in public hospitals, a trend that he said had been on the rise in recent years.

“More than 10 percent of the bodies stay in our mortuaries for more than a month. In some cases, the body may remain in the morgue for more than a year,” he said.

“For example, from February to May last year, eight of the public hospitals had morgue usage rates exceeding 100 percent.

"During this year's peak service period, we had 13 mortuaries exceeding 100 percent utilisation rates, a situation that is quite unsatisfactory.”

Wong stressed that the new fee is not aimed at increasing revenue but is based on a co-payment principle for those who can afford it, in an attempt to reduce waste.

“We want families of the deceased to collect their loved ones’ bodies as soon as possible to make funeral arrangements," he said.

"We also heard public opinions that said three days might be too short for funeral arrangements to be made and so extended the period, hoping it would give people ample time.”

Wong expects fewer than 10 percent of people will end up having to pay fees, noting that more than 80 percent of bodies were stored for 28 days or less in the past.

Another 10 percent of patients with financial difficulties or special circumstances can apply to have full fee exemptions, he added.