On 26 January, the Code of Ethics for healthcare staff of penitentiary institutions and pre-trial detention centres was presented online to national stakeholders and international partners working on penitentiary reforms.

The Code provides a framework of ethical cornerstones in respect of access to healthcare, the principle of equivalence of care, confidentiality and patient’s consent as well as the prevention in healthcare, and professional independence and competence. The participants supported a common understanding that adherence to ethical principles will contribute to an increased confidence of prisoners in the care they receive, enhanced medical professionalism and ethics, resolution of ethical dilemmas, and improved quality of healthcare.

On the nexus of two professional groups with different tasks working under one roof, Mr Serhiy Vasyljev, Head of the Prison Healthcare Centre, noted: “What is important for the Code of Ethics is to be accepted by all three parties: the prison healthcare workers, the inmates and the prison administration”.

Mr. Viacheslav Rudenko, deputy Director of the State Department of the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, emphasised that it was already a high time to develop such a document and added that “adherence to the ethical norms by the prison medical staff includes not only their loyalty to medical oath, but also the prevention of violation of prison regime rules”.

Based on the feedback received during the presentation, The Code of Ethics will be finalised and submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine for its approval and subsequent application.

This activity was organised within the framework of the EU and Council of Europe Joint Project "Support to Prison Reform in Ukraine - SPERU", which is designed to promote human rights compliant management of prisons, including better alignment of prison healthcare provisions with European standards.