- 53 151. Such a health-care team could scarcely be considered adequate even if the prison was
operating within its official capacity of 480, and is manifestly insufficient for an establishment
accommodating more than 1400 prisoners. A prisoner in urgent need of medical care could, no
doubt, be quickly transferred to the nearby Prison Hospital (cf. paragraphs 170 et seq.), where at
least one doctor was always on duty; however, for non-urgent cases, the standard of care will
inevitably be meagre with such an undermanned medical service.
The CPT recommends that, as an initial measure, and pending a more thorough
reinforcement of the prison's health-care service, steps be taken immediately to ensure:
-
attendance by general practitioners amounting to the equivalent of the presence of a
full-time doctor;
-
assistance by an appropriate number of qualified nurses (cf. for example, Rule 30 of the
Code of basic rules for the treatment of prisoners);
-
ready access for prisoners to a dentist.
152. The premises and equipment of the prison's small infirmary (there were no in-patient
facilities) were of an adequate standard and the level of hygiene was good. Nevertheless, the
delegation was not convinced that the confidentiality of medical data was fully guaranteed.
153. At Korydallos Womens Prison, the health-care service consisted essentially of a
gynaecologist, a general practitioner and a psychiatrist, all part-time. Further, a dentist attended the
establishment twice a week. They were assisted by a prison officer who had received nursing
training and three other prison officers who had received some health-care training in-house. Once
again, this is a poorly resourced health-care team, in view of the number of prisoners.
The CPT recommends, as an initial measure, that steps be taken immediately to ensure
attendance by general practitioners amounting to the equivalent of the presence of a full-time
doctor.
154. Further, the premises of the prison infirmary were too small. In particular, the privacy of
gynaecological examinations was not guaranteed. The CPT recommends that the infirmary's
premises be enlarged.
155. The resources of the health-care service at Larissa Prison were extremely limited. A visiting
general practitioner provided two weekly surgeries of two hours each, and a psychiatrist and a
dentist also came to the establishment twice a week for a similar amount of time. They were
assisted by two nurses and a prison officer working as a nursing assistant. Not surprisingly, there
was a veritable shuttle service between the prison and the Larissa General Hospital (1773 transfers
during 1992).
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