- 55 iii. HIV related issues 162. Newly-arrived prisoners were not requested to provide a blood sample on admission, and consequently the question of an HIV test did not arise. Health-care and other staff spoken to expressed the view that HIV/AIDS was not a significant problem in Greece. In any event, it was clear that little, if any, information on this subject was provided to prisoners or prison staff. 163. While welcoming the absence of compulsory HIV testing on arrival, the CPT was dismayed to learn that prisoners known to be HIV positive were held in isolation at Korydallos Prison Hospital (cf. also paragraph 172). The delegation was told that this measure was the result of a ministerial decision. The CPT must emphasise that there is no medical justification for the isolation of an HIV positive prisoner. It was quite clear that the present situation was due to lack of knowledge about the risks of transmission, a failing which the delegation detected even among certain prison medical staff. There is no doubt that the immediate (re)integration of known HIV positive prisoners into the ordinary prison community might have grave consequences, as they could well be victimised by both prisoners and prison staff. Nevertheless, the CPT recommends that the present policy of isolating HIV positive prisoners be progressively abandoned and replaced by a policy for combatting transmissible diseases in general in prisons, based on the provision of full information on the modes of transmission and means of protection and the introduction of appropriate preventive measures5. iv. access to a fully-equipped hospital service 164. A prison's health-care service should be able to count on the support of a fully-equipped hospital service, for the purposes of specialist examinations and hospitalisation in appropriate cases. It appeared that such support was available to the health-care service at Larissa Prison; however, the situation was far less clear at Athens. 165. Prisoners at the Korydallos Mens Prison who required more than ambulant care could be transferred to the Prison Hospital. However, as will be explained later (cf. paragraph 173), this latter institution was not in a position to provide the services of a fully-fledged hospital, and doctors spoken to at the Prison Hospital stated that the transfer of a prisoner in need of hospital care to a civil hospital often proved problematical. 5 In devising such a policy, reference could be made to Recommendation No. R (93) 6 concerning prison and criminological aspects of the control of transmissible diseases including AIDS and related health problems in prison, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 18 October 1993.