- 24 d. access to a doctor 43. The legal provisions concerning the right of access to a doctor which are currently in force are quite satisfactory (cf. CPT/Inf (2001) 18, Part I, paragraph 88); they include the right to be examined by a state-appointed doctor as well as by a doctor of the detained person’s own choice. However, the information gathered by the delegation indicated that this right was not always fully effective in practice. 44. With the exception of the Drepanos site, none of the establishments visited, including those holding large numbers of detained persons for prolonged periods, had in-house health-care services or received regular visits from health-care staff. Nonetheless, in all of them, the delegation was informed of arrangements for the transfer to hospital of detained persons in need of medical treatment and, on occasion, it was possible for a doctor to see a detained person requiring such care on police premises. That said, the CPT is concerned to note that police officers tended to filter requests to see a doctor. The delegation observed that, as a result, certain persons were not receiving the medical care required by their state of health. By way of example, at Athens Police Headquarters, a person who complained of a painful acromioclavicular luxation and reduced mobility of the right arm had not been seen by health-care staff since his detention some six weeks earlier. Further, at Heraklion Police Headquarters, a person suffering from a severe skin infection on the right foot, with wounds due to scratching and a risk of infection, had not been seen by health-care staff despite his repeated requests to that effect since his arrival about 30 days earlier. Further, in several of the establishments visited, the delegation found that inmates were not being supplied with medication prescribed to them if they were not in a position to pay for it. 45. Requests to see a doctor must be promptly met; law enforcement officials should not seek to filter such requests. It should also be recalled that all medical examinations of persons in police custody should be conducted out of the hearing and, unless the doctor concerned requests otherwise in a specific case, out of the sight of police officers, and that the results of every examination, as well as relevant statements by the detained person and the doctor's conclusions, should be formally recorded by the doctor and made available on request to the detainee and his/her lawyer (cf. CPT/Inf (2001) 18, Part I, paragraph 90 and CPT/Inf (2001) 19, pages 80-81). Establishments accommodating significant numbers of detained persons or holding such persons for prolonged periods should be visited on a regular basis by at least a qualified nurse reporting to a doctor. Further, medication should be provided free of charge to detained persons who do not have the resources to pay for it themselves. The CPT recommends that arrangements concerning access to a doctor for persons held in law enforcement agency detention facilities and the provision of health care to such persons be reviewed, in the light of the above remarks.