A long-term strategy to deal with dementia will soon be drawn up, building on work by the Malta Dementia Strategy Group, Mario Galea said yesterday.

The Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly and Community Care was delivering the opening address of an international conference entitled Alzheimer’s Disease: Alternatives to Hospitalisation and Assistanceto Caregivers.

Mr Galea said there were a number of community services available in Malta, including Home Help, Community Nursing, Elderly Community Outreach team, Meals on Wheels, Handy Man Services and many others.

He told the conference, organised by Caritas Malta in collaboration with the International Federation of Associations of the Elderly (FIAPA), the Government was presently giving 7,500 hours of home help per week.

The Government had increased the number of beds in elderly care homes by about 900 and new residences being built were designed to be dementia-friendly, he said.

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