Ministry of Health and Welfare announces 5th Comprehensive Dementia Management Plan
Pilot introduction of Dementia Safe Asset Management Support Service in April
Overhaul of screening system for early detection of dementia
The government is stepping in as a guardian of property for people with dementia. A public trust system, under which the state is entrusted with and manages the assets of dementia patients, is scheduled to be fully introduced this year. The aim is to protect dementia patients from scams such as voice phishing and from the risk of asset expropriation by family members and others.
On the 12th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare finalized and announced the "5th Comprehensive Dementia Management Plan (2026-2030)" after deliberation by the National Dementia Management Committee. This comprehensive plan sets out the dementia policy of the Lee Jaemyung administration. It includes 73 detailed implementation tasks, including the introduction of a public trust system.
National Pension Service to manage assets of dementia patients... Large expansion of public guardianship for dementia
The public trust system, called the "Dementia-Safe Asset Management Support Service," will be introduced as a pilot project in April this year. The government plans to expand it into a full-scale program in 2028.
After the dementia patient or a guardian who reflects the patient’s wishes signs a trust contract with the National Pension Service, the Service will support the use of the patient’s assets so that spending is directed toward goods and services needed for daily life.
When there are important contract-related matters, such as special expenditures or contract termination, they will be subject to review by the Dementia Asset Management Committee.
The public trust will be available to recipients of the basic pension who face risks, or are expected to face risks, in managing their assets, such as people with dementia and those diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment. Giving priority to high-risk groups, the government plans to support 750 people this year and increase the number to 11,000 by 2030.
In the pilot project, the scope of assets covered will be limited to cash, designated bonds, and reverse mortgages, and will then be gradually expanded in stages.
The government also stated that it will seek to expand the scope of trust assets so that the use of private trusts will be revitalized as a means of safely managing assets before the onset of dementia.
In addition, the number of public guardians who help dementia patients make legal decisions needed in daily life will be expanded, with the scale of support increasing from 300 people this year to 1,900 by 2030.
Dementia screening system to be revamped for early detection... Dementia primary care doctors to be expanded nationwide
The dementia screening system will be revamped to enable early detection. To improve the ability of Dementia Relief Centers to distinguish mild cognitive impairment and shorten testing time, the government will develop a center-specific diagnostic testing tool over the next two years starting this year, with the goal of applying it in 2028.
To ensure continuous community-based management of dementia centered on local clinics, the pilot project for "dementia primary care doctors," introduced in 2024, will be expanded nationwide by 2028.
For families caring for dementia patients, the most serious difficulties are behavioral and psychological symptoms such as wandering and aggression. To treat patients experiencing such symptoms, the number of Dementia Relief Hospitals will be increased from the current 25 to 50 by 2030.
The government will also develop clinical guidelines by 2028 that reflect the diverse causes of dementia and the varying severity levels among patients, and will disseminate these guidelines to medical institutions.
Support will be strengthened for long-term care beneficiaries with dementia by raising the monthly usage limits for day and night care centers and allowing concurrent use of both day and night care institutions and Dementia Patient Shelters.
In addition, the government plans to expand dementia-specialized long-term care facilities and day and night care centers, focusing on regions that lack public institutions and hospitals.
The government will also diversify support and services for families of dementia patients.
This year, it will pilot a dementia-caregiver-only senior employment program in a "mentor-mentee" format, where caregivers who have provided long-term care for dementia patients share information and provide emotional support to other caregivers, with plans to expand it nationwide starting next year.
Driving ability assessment to be introduced for suspected dementia patients... Dementia Relief Centers to be operated in line with local characteristics
In line with the goal of creating a dementia-friendly environment supported by the community, a driving ability assessment system will be established to objectively evaluate the driving skills of drivers suspected of having dementia.
The driving ability assessment system will be piloted starting this year, and from next year the government will consider using its results in the conditional driver’s license system.
Currently, drivers aged 75 or older undergo a dementia screening test as part of a regular aptitude test every three years, but there are limits to assessing their actual driving ability, and the government intends to supplement the current aptitude test system.
The dementia prevention guidelines developed in 2016 will be completely overhauled next year into a "Cognitive Health Practice Index" that reflects the latest research findings, and terminology related to dementia will be revised based on public preferences.
The government will improve the previously uniform operating and evaluation standards for Dementia Relief Centers so that centers can be operated more flexibly as screening-oriented, prevention-oriented, or service-oriented, depending on local characteristics and available medical resources.
In addition, the comprehensive plan includes support for dementia research that incorporates innovative technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as the establishment of a "Dementia Cohort Integrated Dashboard" to link and share dispersed dementia research data.
Lee Seuran, First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare and Chair of the National Dementia Management Committee, stated, "We focused on enhancing how much people feel the impact of these policies in response to the growing number of dementia patients in a super-aged society," adding, "Our goal is not only quantitative expansion but also a qualitative leap forward."
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