All mortuaries, funeral facilities in Ghana operating without licence – MoFFA registrar

Registrar of the Mortuaries and Funeral Facilities Agency (MoFFA), Dr Yaw Twerefour has stated that all mortuaries and funerals facilities in the country are operating without the requisite licensing regime required for their operations.

Dr Yaw Twerefour, who assumed office as the registrar and chief executive officer (CEO) of MoFFA on 2 May 2023, made the disclosure in an exclusive interview with Asaase Radio’s Wilberforce Asare, on Monday, 4 September 2023.

Provision in the HIFA

Section 43 of the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829), authorizes MoFFA to license mortuaries and funeral facilities in every part of the country. The section entitled “license of facility” states that (1) A person shall not own or operate a facility unless that facility is licensed under this Part.

(2) Facilities required to be licensed are (a) cold storage facilities for human remains, (b) mortuaries, (c) funeral homes, (d) crematoria, (e) columbaria, (f) mausoleums, (g) cemeteries, (h) hearses and (i) any other facility that the Minister may determine on the recommendation of the Board.

Licensing & inspection

MoFFA, according to Dr Twerefour, has designed licensing and inspection tools that it will soon be rolling out in order to compel all existing and future mortuary and funeral facilities to acquire the required licenses.

“It may interest you to know that currently, no single mortuaries in Ghana have a license. We are at the stage of drawing up our licensing tools and inspection tools.

“Our licensing tools and inspection tools must be standardized so that what applies to one mortuary will apply to all mortuaries, no discrimination, be it government or private, the standards must be the same” Dr Yaw Twerefour said.

“We have some consultants from Korle-bu helping us to draw up these tools. We are almost done. The tools that have been developed so far, have been tested in one of the high-ranking funeral facilities in Accra but we had some challenges and so we are fine-tuning the tools and in two to three months’ time, we will be rolling out to start licensing [mortuaries and funerals facilities] in Accra” the public health specialist added.

MoFFA

The agency established by the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829) on 31 December 2011, is responsible for licensing, controlling and regulation of facilities connected with the storage, transportation and disposal of human remains (the body of a deceased person or still born child and any part of the body removed in the course of surgical operation).

MoFFA is in its formative stage, and it is currently located at the former Ministry of Health main building at the ministries area in Accra. The mission of the Mortuaries and Funeral Facilities Agency (MoFFA) is to protect public health incidences in the funeral and death care industry through a process of impartial enforcement, inspection, licensing and education in order to guarantee that services provided by all agents in the sector are conducted professionally and ethically.

MoFFA’s derives its mandate from the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Acct 829) and specifically from section 43 (1) which states that “a person shall not own or operate a facility unless that facility is licensed under this [Act].

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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