Prime Minister Hun Sen last week signed a sub-decree to regulate elderly care centres ahead of the opening of the country’s first government-run centre for senior citizens next year, an official said yesterday.

The sub-decree orders regulation of the centres, which would provide accommodation and care for elderly citizens who lack support services in their communities and don’t have family members able to take care of them.

Though the sub-decree was short on detailed regulations, it stipulates that the Ministry of Social Affairs will oversee the operation of such centres. It will be responsible for granting approval for new centres to open, inspecting them and investigating allegations of abuse, as well as any wrongdoing by management and staff. The ministry will issue corrective action plans or shut down centres that violate the sub-decree.

Touch Channy, spokesman for the Ministry of Social Affairs, said the sub-decree was issued under the national elderly policy. Currently, there are no residential centres for senior citizens in Cambodia, he added.

“We are just . . . creating one in Por Sen Chey district,” he said, adding that construction was about 70 percent complete and the centre should open early next year.

The Ministry of Social Affairs will cooperate with the ministries of interior, justice and health to create a committee that will be responsible for taking legal action against centres that violate the sub-decree.