Back Improving penitentiary healthcare system – North Macedonia’s and Kosovo* authorities exchange best practices

Improving penitentiary healthcare system – North Macedonia’s and Kosovo* authorities exchange best practices

A delegation from North Macedonia, consisting of medical personnel working in penitentiary institutions, senior officials of the Ministry of Health, as well as the Acting Head and key representatives of the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions (DES), visited Kosovo on 3-4 April 2025.   

The visit focused on the inter-institutional co-ordination between the main stakeholders responsible for the penitentiary system and the provision of healthcare – the Kosovo Correctional Service, as well as the Prison Health Services under the Ministry of Health. The visited institutions shared their experience in building the structural organisation, setting the regulatory framework and operations. The lessons learned were considered valuable by the Acting Head of North Macedonia’s Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions, Mr Aleksandar Pandov, as well as the State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Mr Besim Memeti. Recruiting policies for the medical personnel in prisons, as well as the co-ordination mechanism were on the focus of the conversations.  

The practical dimensions of the penitentiary healthcare were demonstrated during the visit to the High Security Prison, and Dubrava Prison. The doctor in the visiting delegation had an opportunity to see the procedures in place, while the hosts demonstrated their readiness to reciprocate with a returning visit.

This study visit is the second such activity organised in the past three years, aimed at enhancing the inter-departmental co-ordination in North Macedonia, by learning from other experiences in the region which would help establish a mechanism that provides better healthcare for the sentenced persons.

This activity was conducted in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and its action “Strengthening the capacities of the penitentiary system in North Macedonia”.

 

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence

Kosovo* 4 April
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Fifty practitioners to enhance skills in provision of occupational therapy

Following the adoption of the Guidelines for Occupational Therapy (OT), as well as the Training of Trainers (ToT) on OT that took place in January 2024, three 2-day cascade training sessions were organised in the course of February and March 2024.  Fifty professionals, mainly from the Prison Health Department, along with representatives from the Correctional Services, Institute for Forensic Psychiatry, and the Special Institute for Persons with Mental and Physical Disabilities, were trained on this important form of therapy.

To complement the theoretical aspects and provide the trainees with practical knowledge, some of the sessions were conducted in the Dubrava Prison, in a section which houses prisoners with both mental and somatic problems. This on-site training allowed the participants to observe and understand the application of OT principles in a real-life setting, thus enhancing their learning experience by connecting theory and practice.

These cascade training sessions allowed the participants to further improve their skills in applying the OT Guidelines and tools in prisons and other closed institutions, a concept which was thus far not utilised in a structured manner. Furthermore, training healthcare and correctional professionals together helps them further strengthen the inter-institutional cooperation in the treatment and rehabilitation of some of the most vulnerable members of the society.

Each of these sessions were facilitated by two trainers who had participated in the ToT in January and were supervised and mentored by a Council of Europe consultant who has been involved in the process since the very beginning, thus further strengthening institutional capacity to provide training.

The activity was conducted under the auspices of the Council of Europe project “Improvement of the treatment of persons deprived of liberty”.

 

 

*All references to Kosovo, whether to the territory, institutions, or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United National Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

Istog/ Istok 26 March 2024
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