The government is looking into setting up a new commission to deal with the needs of the elderly in light of the island’s ageing population, Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana said.

A draft law, still in its infancy, has been presented to the Attorney General for review, she said, adding that the matter still had to be discussed with stakeholders.

At the moment Malta has a Commission for Mental Health and Older Persons, and the government is proposing splitting this into two separate bodies.

“Just because a person is elderly does not mean there is an issue of mental health. So I believe the two need to be separate,” Dr Caruana told The Sunday Times of Malta.

Antoinette Shah, chief executive of the Richmond Foundation that works to support people with mental health problems, said this was “a good idea”.

Malta was seeing an increase the elderly population as well as an increase in mental health problems. Both fields came with a list of complex needs, she said.

A lot needs to be done in mental health

“A lot needs to be done in mental health, and having a dedicated commission would be ideal,” she said.

This would allow the commission to focus on raising awareness, working on prevention, addressing stigma and supporting carers. Commissioner for Mental Health and Older Persons John Cachia said that while the two fields formed two distinct population sectors there was a degree of overlap.

The two fields shared significant health and social risks, such as those of physical and economic dependency, poverty, social exclusion and variable degrees of lack of mental capacity.

He said that his office had worked with the overlap in these two care sectors since its inception.

“The common trunk approach to the promotion and protection of the rights of people has secured a considerable degree of uniformity and synergy of intervention,” he said.

He added that the separation of the two sectors was a policy decision and it was up to government to decide on the way forward.