2.5.4.4. Competence and independence of doctors; Confidentiality; Awareness of Patients
According to the Recommendation N(98)7 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council
Europe, doctors who work in prison should provide the individual inmate with the same
standards of health care as are being delivered to patients in the community. Clinical decisions and any other assessments regarding the health of detained persons should be
governed only by medical criteria. Health care personnel should operate with complete
independence within the bounds of their qualifications and competence.168 A doctor
shall not be involved in an activity the purpose of which is not the protection of the
prisoner’s health.169
The problems related to the Competence and independence of the prison doctors subsist in 2015. With a view of raising the independence and competence of the penitentiary healthcare personnel, it is necessary to ensure professional independence of the
healthcare staff. The medical ethics principles must fully be incorporated in the legal
framework regulating the penitentiary system. Further, the healthcare personnel should
be provided with continuous professional training; existing training modules should be
enhanced. Finally, an effective mechanism should be created to evaluate and supervise
the sustainability of training results. Clear job descriptions should be elaborated for the
healthcare personnel.
The public Defender addressed the Minister of Corrections in 2014 with the recommendation to ensure professional independence and competence of the penitentiary
healthcare personnel by fully incorporating the medical personnel’s professional independence principle and the medical ethics principles in the legal framework regulating
the penitentiary system, providing the healthcare personnel with continuous professional training, enhancing various training modules for them.
Positive assessment shall be given to a number of activities carried out by the Ministry of
Corrections in the view of enhancing the professional independence of medical personnel, their competence and protection of medical ethics. Specifically, the training of the
medical staff of the penitentiary system on national and international standards on the
specificity of the treatment of prisoners. As well as by the working group for long-term
training programs as well as medical personnel, medical personnel employed in the job
descriptions of support staff functions to be discharged, but only the above measures
fail to provide medical personnel with a high degree of independence and competence.
168 Recommendation No. R (98) 7 of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers to member states
concerning the ethical and organizational aspects of health care in prison (Strasbourg, 20 April
1998), paras. 19-20.
169 The UN international principles of medical ethics (1982), 3rd principle, available in English language only on the following link: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r194.htm [last accessed18.03.2016].
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NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015
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