consider this is not sufficient cause to release the prison system from its obligation to protect the health of prisoners. When the state deprives its citizens of their liberty, it assumes the responsibility of providing for their health in terms of conditions in which they are imprisoned, particular procedures that might be required due to those conditions, and in terms of providing medical treatment as well as health care measures and activities, the quality and scope of which is equal to the public health standards set for mandatory health insurance policy holders. Consequently, it was recommended to the Central Office of the Prison System Directorate of the Ministry of Justice to undertake appropriate measures to ensure the protection from passive smoking in the prison system. For example, this may be achieved by separating smokers from non-smokers or, when that is not possible, by designating special rooms for smokers which will be available to them throughout a larger part of the day. This is also supported by the ECHR's view expressed in the judgment Elefteriadis v. Romania (2011), in which it ruled that forced exposure to fellow prisoners’ tobacco smoke, which results in health problems, constitutes a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Central Office replied that, whenever possible, prisoners who smoke are separated from non-smokers, but our position is that this, without taking appropriate measures in the situation of the prison system overcrowding, does not constitute satisfactory protection of non-smokers from passive smoking. In accordance with the relevant regulations, prisoners are provided at least three meals a day with calorific value of at least 3,000 kcal. In investigative procedures instigated on the basis of complaints from prisoners concerning insufficient amounts of food and its poor quality, it was established that in certain penal institutions, on some days, the daily calorific value of meals is lower (e.g. 2,815 kcal; 2,912 kcal, and the like), although the daily average per week always amounts to more than 3,000 kcal. Taking this into account, specific institutions were warned that, under the EPSA, prisoners should be provided at least three meals per day with the total calorific value of at least 3,000 kcal per day. Moreover, the lower calorific value of individual meals in certain penal institutions is compensated with increased amounts of bread given to prisoners, which is not in line with the prescribed nutritional standards for planning daily meals of prisoners. A part of complaints related to health care refers to long waiting periods for performing individual specialist medical examinations or recommended surgical treatments. Persons deprived of their liberty were unclear as to the reasons why previously scheduled exams or treatments are not performed or as to why they are being postponed, which generally created great dissatisfaction and feeling of helplessness and lack of concern for their health. After carrying out investigative procedures, it was concluded that examinations and treatments were postponed due to the reduced scope of work of physicians under strike and the resulting longer waiting lists. As the right to health also includes the right to timely access to essential health services, prisoners who required particular health services, as well as all other patients in Croatia, had difficulties in exercising their right to health due to circumstances related to longer waiting lists.