DOC/OS(XXXIII)/324c/II with contagious diseases and the delay in diagnosing tuberculosis sufferers are at the root of the persistence of this disease in Ugandan prisons. and medical materials. The infirmaries visited, especially inland, mostly lacked equipment None of the inland prisons visited, with the exception of Tororo prison farm, had any sphygmomanometers. Several detainees expressed their concern in this regard, knowing they had high blood pressure before entering prison, but no longer being able to monitor their blood pressure. Medical services in prisons The UPS medical officials acknowledge that 90% of deaths that occur in prison are of remand prisoners, and that 50% of these occur within the first year following admission. According to ICRC, 20% of prisoners die during their first year of detention. Until 1976, the administration of health care for detainees was the responsibility of the Director of Health in the District where the prison was located. In 1977, the Minister of Health decided that from then on all the medical staff of the Murchison Bay Hospital in Kampala would handle prison health matters while still being in the employment of the Ministry of Health. It was only after this that the prison hospital started to have a permanent medical staff. Two years later, the Prisons' Health Department was created under the direction of Dr Denson Nyabwana. In March 2002, he had five full-time assistant doctors working in the medical departments of Kampala's prisons and nearly one hundred paramedics of different grades and status, working in different prisons throughout the country. Each of the five prison doctors is responsible for several regions which they must visit whenever necessary. Two doctors, one of whom is a dentist, 14 paramedics and a laboratory technician work fullA psychiatrist works there once a week. This hospital is time at the Murchison Bay hospital. situated within the premises of the prison of the same name and has a capacity of 54 beds. It serves as a model hospital for all the central government's prisons and houses the central pharmacy. Built in the 1940s, this hospital is still in a good state of repair. It has offices for the staff and reception areas where newly arrived patients are dealt with, the hospital is structured in three units, one on each of the three storeys of the building. The 1st floor houses the unit for people suffering from diarrhoea (12 beds on the day of the visit) and the central pharmacy; the 2nd floor contains the patients with non-infectious diseases (14 beds); and on the 3rd floor are the patients with tuberculosis (15 beds). The surgical unit, which is just being built, is on the 2nd floor. At the time of the visit of the Special Rapporteur's delegation, seven patients were in the unit for diarrhoea sufferers, ten in the wing for persons with noninfectious diseases and ten in the tuberculosis unit. Prisoners expressed concerns at having to share razor blades which could contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The January 2002 statistics indicated that out of a total of 573 patients received by the hospital in 2001, 95 had malaria, 90 had respiratory infections, including tuberculosis, and 65 suffered from diarrhoea. There were thirty-nine deaths at the hospital during 2001, and there has been one case since January 2002. The hospital possessed the minimal material and equipment necessary to function properly. Seriously ill patients who could not be treated locally were taken to the national hospital of Mulago. There is a project to extend this model prison hospital. One of the multistorey prison buildings in front of the hospital has already been earmarked for this purpose. With refurbishment and new equipment the number of beds in the hospital should be increased to 200. 22