The Social Committee of the State Council on Tuesday hosted officials from the Ehsan Association concerned with providing care for the elderly in the sultanate, as part of the committee’s study titled ‘Reality of the elderly in the Sultanate’.

The committee held its fifth meeting for the first annual session of the seventh term headed by Hon Ahmed bin Ali bin Abdullah al Habshi al Amri, in the presence of honourable members of the committee and several General Secretariat employees.

The meeting with the association’s officials, focused on the association’s programmes for the care of the elderly.

The discussion also touched upon the axes related to the study, including a historical overview of the care of the elderly in Islamic and international countries, legislation and policies, statistical trends and policy perspective in the Arab and Gulf countries, international and Gulf legislations and laws that are concerned with the protection and care of the elderly. In addition, it reviewed the experiences of some Arab countries in terms of legislations related to the care of the elderly and the reality of caring for this group in the sultanate, with special emphasis on national legislations and policies, social indicators and the efforts of the concerned authorities.

During the meeting, the committee hosted the head of the association, Jokha bint Muhammad al Farisi, and association members, Hamad bin Hamid al Hatimi, Thuraya bint Saeed al Mawaliyah and Zahra bint Thani Assariya.

The importance of the study comes as a result of the steady increase in the number of the elderly.