In this context, the medical personnel working in penitentiary institutions, senior officials of the Ministry of Health, and the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions (DES) of North Macedonia gathered in a roundtable in Skopje to review the prepared analysis, supported by the EU and Council of Europe, that aims at introducing a Standardized register of injuries in prisons.

Considering its multi-dimensional importance, this novelty for the prison system was discussed by a cross-sectorial board that included doctors covering six penitentiary institutions, along with the representatives of the Ministry of Health responsible for legal affairs, e-health, primary healthcare, as well as the human resources of the Ministry, and the DES. In contrast to the current practice where each incident is separately registered, the proposed Standardized register of injuries would introduce uniformed approach in data collection and analysis. The participants agreed on the importance of this tool, which should be integrated in the prison healthcare system.

This register is foreseen under the National Strategy on the Development of the Penitentiary System (2021-25), developed with the support of the EU and Council of Europe, and is envisaged to support the implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures on the provision of healthcare in prisons.

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”.