What to do when a death occurs

Stay calm. Call us at 64559909 for immediate advice and assistance.

If death occurs in a hospital, obtain a Certificate of Cause of Death (CCOD) from a doctor. If death occurs at home, call the family doctor or a neighbourhood doctor who is willing to make a house call to certify the death and issue CCOD.

Once the CCOD is issued, our staff will shift the deceased to our office for cleaning, embalming and dressing. The family needs to prepare a set of the deceased’s clean clothings, to hand to our staff.

Our funeral advisor will discuss the funeral arrangement with the family.

Apply registration of death either at the Registry of Births and Deaths (RBD) counter at the hospital or any Police Post. Remember to bring the CCOD, both the deceased and informant’s IC. Tell the officer the place for cremation or burial. The officer will then issue the Death Certificate + Permit for Cremation or Burial.

Go to your Town Council to apply for void deck usage permit.

Make preparations to receive the deceased and the casket when we send to the venue of the funeral wake.

What about Coroner’s Case

In cases where there is no doctor to certify the death, the police will arrange for the body to be sent to the Mortuary@HSA (located at Block 9 Singapore General Hospital). The police IO will inform the family when to go to the Mortuary@HSA. Be punctual and bring along both the IC of the deceased and informant, and also all medical documents and medicines relating to the deceased.

At the Mortuary@HSA, the police IO will arrange for the family to view and identify the deceased’s body in the presence of the Coroner.

The Coroner will review the case and determine if an autopsy is required. The family will then be informed of the Coroner’s decison and the time to claim the body for the funeral.

** The above notes will give you an idea of the initial procedures when a death occurs. The tasks required of the family are underlined and highlighted in bold.