THE PRISON doctor had over 8,000 visits from prisoners last year and the psychiatrist had around 1,500, the House Human Rights Committee heard yesterday.
Deputies heard that more medical staff and equipment was needed for the prisons, which have an average 600 prisoners at any one time even though it is designed to cater for only around 350.
“The provided health care in the prisons is, to some degree, unsatisfactory … under the circumstances,” Committee chairman Sofoclis Fyttis said. “However, it is necessary for the medical staff and equipment to be reinforced.”
Fyttis said last year the Central Prison doctor had examined over 8,349 people.
She works overtime and sees 60 people a day, Fyttis told reporters.
He added that the prison psychiatrist has 1,500 visits a year – 330 of whom have mental problems and the remainder who have drug problems.
“There is no special place for drug addicts and that is why the medical unit suggested … to have a ‘drug-free’ ward where they will be treated,” Fyttis said.
Projects to alleviate the overcrowding situation at the prisons, including the creation of a health centre, are long overdue.
Last month the committee heard that the project’s completion has been delayed because the temporary workers of the public works department had been dismissed.
The health centre would have 15 beds for drug addicts, 15 for mental patients and 10 for people suffering from communicable diseases.
The ministers of justice, health and finance will meet on February 18, to discuss the issue.
AKEL deputy Dina Akkelidou said the fact that the ministers were meeting was encouraging because a comprehensive plan regarding health provision was necessary.
“We are talking about a (prison) population with various medical issues, both regarding mental and physical health and in some instances with diseases that are communicable,” Akkelidou said.
She said these problems needed to be resolved.
DISY deputy Stella Kyriakidou said that the House expected to hear of specific actions following the February 18 meeting.
‘We’ve been hearing the same thing for a number of years now,” she said.
She also said she wondered how long drugs would continue to be smuggled into the prisons by wardens and how long the prison would only have one doctor.
