CAT/OP/CRI/ROSP/1 was administered by a “board of detainees”. However, none of the persons deprived of their liberty mentioned such a board or claimed to benefit from the monies collected. According to the Subcommittee, such a mechanism fosters corruption. 59. The Subcommittee recommends that the necessary measures be taken so that persons deprived of their liberty may heat up their food free of charge. Health care 60. The Subcommittee noted with concern a number of shortcomings in the provision of health-care services in prisons, including insufficient office hours for medical care and clinics, inadequate access to physicians and to medicines and lack of medical care at night. With the exception of the physicians working at the Vilma Curling and Gerardo Rodríguez closed rehabilitation centres and one nurse working at La Reforma, the Subcommittee was unable to interview medical professionals, the majority of whom were absent for various reasons. 61. At La Reforma, which houses some 4,000 persons deprived of their liberty, fewer than 80 medical consultations are given on a daily basis (including for chronic patients, who usually consult only to renew their prescriptions and to undergo minor checks) and four physicians are on duty every day. In all the prisons visited, persons deprived of their liberty reported difficulty in seeing a physician. Persons deprived of their liberty allegedly apply to be added to a wait list but do not receive medical attention in a timely manner. Consequently, persons deprived of their liberty wait for extended periods of time to see a medical professional and an easily resolved ailment thus risks becoming a more complex illness. There are no records of requests for consultations, making it difficult to assess the medical care available to prisoners. 62. The Subcommittee recommends that records be kept of requests for consultations and the consultations effectively provided, with a view to increased efficiency and transparency. 63. The Subcommittee received numerous complaints, the substance of which was corroborated by prison personnel, about delays in obtaining consultations in external facilities – such consultations sometimes took months or years to organize or never took place at all. In the register of applications for external consultations to which it was given access, the Subcommittee noted that delays or cancellations were not followed up on as they should have been. 64. The Subcommittee recommends that medical care should be effectively provided to persons deprived of their liberty who request it or for whom it is ordered by a physician, and that such persons should not have to suffer long waiting periods before their health problems are addressed. 65. In many of the prisons visited, the medical facilities were modern and well maintained. The medical consumables used to treat persons deprived of their liberty and the materials used in emergencies were adequate. The Subcommittee noted with concern that in nearly all the prisons it visited, dental care was virtually non-existent, despite there being dental clinics. Prisoners who went to the clinics only went for tooth extractions. 66. The Subcommittee was informed that medical consultations invariably take place in the presence of police personnel. The prisoner consulting is therefore necessarily limited in the information he or she can provide to medical personnel, be it for fear of reprisals, for fear that his or her health problems may be discussed outside the consultation room, or simply out of shame. 67. The Subcommittee urges the State party to review the way in which medical clinics are designed, with a view to ensuring privacy during medical consultations. The Subcommittee also recalls that physicians should be mindful of their obligation of confidentiality vis-à-vis their patients. The Subcommittee recommends that prison physicians, dentists and nurses be trained to provide care to persons deprived of their liberty, specifically on how to deal with such persons, how to coordinate their care and monitor their health and how to cope with true emergencies. It further recommends that they be trained to bear in mind the possibility of injury, even if such injury is not GE.21-00153 11