The Council of Europe presented the findings of the needs assessment report on attracting health care staff to the penitentiary Service in Romania. 

The report analysis the obstacles hindering the attraction of medical staff, addresses the issues related to the professional development, regulatory framework, budgetary issues as well as cooperation modalities between Ministry of Health, Board of Physicians, Penitentiary Service and other actors and provides respective recommendations. It aims to assist the Romanian authorities in their efforts to improve the provision of health care afforded to the prisoners in line with the Council of Europe standards and the European Court of Human Rights case law.

As stressed by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mr George-Bogdan Ilea, during the opening remarks, improvement of measures aimed at protecting the physical and mental health of prisoners is a priority for the Penitentiary Service and the Ministry of Justice.

The report is sought to serve as a baseline for developing the policy document on human resources addressing the shortage of medical personnel. Following the presentation, the working group comprising of different stakeholders has already started working on the strategy and its action plan.

This activity was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe cooperation project ”Strengthening the provision of health care and mental health care in prisons in Romania” which aims to assist the Romanian authorities in their efforts to improve the provision of health care afforded to the prisoners as well as provision of appropriate psychiatric care in line with the Council of Europe standards and European Court of Human Rights case law.