In order to ensure the strict adherence to the professional ethics by the prison medical staff the legal framework of the penitentiary system shall be reviewed. According to one of the most important principles of the professional ethics the doctor shall not participate in any activities, which are not directed to protection of the prisoner’s health.170 According to the Special Preventive Group monitoring results, there is a certain attachment of the medical staff to the administration, violating the principle of confidentiality and impeding the process of medical care. In the long term perspective, the integration of the penitentiary healthcare system with general healthcare system is important in the view of protection of professional independence.171 In the short term, however, it is necessary that the regulatory unit of the Medical Department carry out strict supervision on the implementation of ethical principles by prison medical staff and treat violations adequately. The monitoring conducted by the Special Preventive Group revealed that the medical unit infrastructure, in some cases, violates confidentiality. For example, at the establishment N12 medical unit is a two-room primary care, with the doctor’s office and a room to get the drug – sophosbuviris.172 In order to get to the second room of primary health care the patients have to go through the first primary health care room, and in order to get to the chief doctor’s office and the room to get sophosbuviris, the patient has to go through both primary healthcare rooms. The layout of rooms violates the confidentiality of patient care. It should be noted that during the visit, the Special Preventive Group members had witnessed an incident in the first primary health care room. Namely, in the course of ongoing consultation with a prisoner, other prisoners were passing to another primary care room or the doctor’s office. Similar problem subsists at the establishment N17, where the medical unit does not have a separate manipulation and procedure rooms, and there are problems of securing privacy of conversations with a doctor. It is an established practice in remand facilities and closed prisons that prisoners request an appointment with the doctor through the prison staff who are not healthcare personnel and often times doctors examine prisoners and provide their consultation in the cells. This procedure contravenes the principle of confidentiality of the patient/doctor relations because the patient’s medical complaints become known to non-healthcare 170 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]. 171 CPT also noted the importance of this issue in the Report on their visit to Georgia, where it is emphasized that the integration of the penitentiary healthcare system with the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs is an important tool in the view of protection of professional independence. 172 At the time of our visit the room for sophosbuvir application was under repairs and not functioning. NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015 111