persons are or could be deprived of their liberty […]. In addition, in the Opinion of the
Subcommittee sent to States Parties and national preventive mechanisms, on the prevention
of coronavirus (CAT/OP/10), the SPT clarified that all people held in official quarantine
places should be able to benefit from fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment.
We remind that the mandate of the NPM includes the monitoring of any place
where a person is or may be deprived of liberty (therefore a place that they cannot leave
at their own free will), regardless of whether this place (considered to be detention) is a
penitentiary, hospital, residential center for minors, quarantine center, etc.
Other situations faced by NPM teams during monitoring:
• The prefect's institutions notified about the institutionalized quarantine places
communicated partial information / failed to answer or refused to give certain information,
such as the location of the quarantine centers, indicating the following reasons: the location of
the centers is NOT intended for the general public (Arad ); communication is made only at the
central level, through the Strategic Communication Group (Giurgiu); additional information
can be requested from the local public administration (Bucharest); the locations of these
centers are known by a small number of people, who have responsibilities in managing the
situation related to COVID 19 (Neamț); there were also Institutions of the Prefect that did not
respond to the request for information of the People's Advocate (Bistrița-Năsăud, Buzău,
Călărași, Galați, Iași, Maramureș, Mehedinți, Sibiu, Suceava, Timiș and Vrancea);
• some of the Covid-19 hospitals partially communicated the requested information /
documents: for example, Ploiești County Emergency Hospital communicated an extract from
the analysis reports on the implementation and compliance with the provisions of the
Operational Procedure on assessing patient satisfaction, during March -May 2020;
• Săpoca Psychiatric Hospital for Safety Measures: throughout the monitoring activity
(monitoring was performed by alternative means to classic visits) there was a permanent
dialogue with hospital representatives (financial director, legal advisor), the NPM team
appreciating their availability to provide the requested information and documents. However,
although the team's access to the video surveillance system in the common areas and the
isolation rooms within the monitored sections was repeatedly requested, the team's access was
only ensured to the video surveillance system in the courtyard of the Ojasca location;
• San Francesco Center for the Elderly, Giurgiu Municipality, private center: refused
to be monitored by the NPM, arguing that their center is no place of detention.
• The Medical-Social Assistance Unit „Dr. Elena Popovici” Flămânzi, Botoșani
County: during November 2020, NPM was to carry out a follow-up visit to verify the
implementation of the recommendations made following visits in 2019. Although, initially, the
new management of the center (management changed between two visits) was willing to
participate in the scheduled visit, after we sent them the letter requesting information /
documents on the activity of the unit, the staff of the unit refused to comply with the requests.
This change of attitude was motivated by the fact that the unit is not a detention center and does
not fall under the scope of Law no. 35/1997, republished.
Examples of good practices found during monitoring:
• appropriate measures to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection have been taken in most
monitored units; for example, in the Techirghiol Spa and Recovery Sanatorium (which
functioned as a quarantine center between March 23 and July 3), operational procedures
adapted to the epidemiological context (specific to Covid-19) have been developed since the
beginning of the state of emergency: - disinfection of rooms inhabited by patients potentially
contaminated with Covid-19, putting on the personal equipment and taking it off by the staff,
organization of triage before entering quarantine, distribution of quarantined persons,
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