Discussion devoted to reforms in prison healthcare was held

Today, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Suren Krmoyan participated in a discussion on "Strengthening healthcare and human rights protection in prisons in Armenia". The discussion was organised by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia with the support of the Council of Europe.

During the meeting, draft Decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia No 825-N of 26 May 2006 and the drafts of the sanitary and epidemiological guidelines were presented to the participants, and the discussions were devoted to the draft Decision and the draft guidelines.

The Deputy Minister greeted the participants and emphasised that the final draft — summarised as a result of the discussions — would be submitted to the Government for approval.

Suren Krmoyan also informed that the process of establishing a new SNCO for providing healthcare services for imprisoned persons was indivertible and that tangible results would be achieved in this direction over the next couple of months.

During the meeting, international experts Peter Pavlin and Peter Bartlett presented their observations on compliance of the developed drafts with international standards with respect to in-patient medical aid and psychiatric services.

Afterwards, according to the revised draft, the local experts introduced the new procedures for psychiatric and in-patient medical aid for detained persons and convicts, after which the participants of the discussion participated in a question-and-answer session.