The president had stressed during the election campaign that the government should take more responsibility for the treatment of dementia and proposed launching a state program to handle the issue.

Under the program, the government would increase the number of support centers for affected patients, build hospitals dedicated to treating the disease and establish relevant links across the medical, welfare and nursing sectors.

Moon also promised to introduce caps on the financial burden placed on those insured against dementia.

On Thursday, he instructed his senior aides to draw up a detailed plan to realize the proposed program and report to him by the end of the month. (Yonhap)