According to Article 3(s1) of the Law on Health Protection, medical assistance is urgent if without such assistance a patient’s death, disability or serious aggravation of health is inevitable. According to the Order of the Minister of Health no. 01-25/n dated 19 June 2013 “on determining classification of medical interventions and approving minimum requirements for primary healthcare institutions”, there are 4 classes of medical intervention: an urgent (critical) intervention is an intervention to save a life, an organ or an extremity involving resuscitation and the intervention usually starts several minutes after the decision has been made. An emergency (without delay) intervention means intervention when a life-threatening medical condition has already started and/or deteriorated acutely. Such medical conditions are those that may entail a loss of life, organ or extremity, while the actual intervention could be fixating a fracture, pain management and relieving other heavy symptoms. Normally a decision on intervention should be made within no later than 24 hours after the firstcategory preserving treatment is completed. Emergency (without delay) intervention is an early intervention while a patient’s condition is stable and his/her life, organ or extremity is not under urgent threat but the intervention has to be carried out in several days (2-5 days). A scheduled intervention is the one scheduled for a date that is convenient for the patient, the doctor and the medical institution. In the relevant subchapter above we discussed a medical referral procedure and provision of healthcare services by invited doctors in the penitentiary institutions. Unfortunately, the standard established by the above-mentioned ministerial order (01-25/N) is often times unfulfilled and appropriate healthcare services are not accessible timely. Hence, we recommend that the penitentiary healthcare staff be guided with the aforementioned ministerial order in planning their medical interventions. Although a substantial progress has been made in terms of organization of the penitentiary healthcare, the process of provision of medical services within the penitentiary system is still full of various defects. In many cases, the principle of continuity of required medical assistance is not observed. Thus, a paper confirming provision of medical consultation by a surgeon cannot be found in the deceased prisoner D.G.’s medical documentation; no records of medications requested for and issued to the deceased prisoner were found in the prison documents for registration of use of medications. Also, the healthcare personnel of the Institution no. 17 received the necessary medical documents of prisoner Ts.A. with delay. No medical file was found in prisoner G.K.’s personal folder and the prison healthcare staff had to produce a new medical file for the entire period the prisoner had been admitted to the prison, for the purpose of control and evaluation of his health condition. Prisoner Kh.R.’s medical file does not include his backbone X-ray result. As a result of an inspection visit paid to the penitentiary institution no. 12 by the representatives of the Medical Activity Regulation Agency of the Medical Department of the Ministry of Corrections, often times the patients’ medical papers are illegible, the patients’ general information sections are not completely filled out, dates of medical consultations and the names of invited doctors are not indicated. The Special NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM OF GEORGIA 103