Agreement renewed for prisoners' medical treatment

Six state-owned hospitals renewed an agreement with the Shanghai Prison General Hospital on Wednesday to provide services for the basic medical demand of prisoners.

The agreement involves Renji Hospital, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital, Zhoupu Hospital, Shanghai Mental Health Center and the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center.

"Everyone has the right to life," said Xie Xufeng, vice director of the prison hospital. "We also hope each person can die with dignity."

This joint provision of medical treatment was established in 2018. Over 3,000 critical patients in local prisons have been treated thanks to the cooperation, said Fu Jun, secretary of the Party committee of the prison hospital.

"Compared with the entire society, prison hospitals do not have that many patients but there are many difficulties and complications in some fields, such as AIDS and tuberculosis," Xie said.

During the next five years, the hospitals would continue to work with the prison hospital, treating the imprisoned patients and improving the medical level behind bars, Fu said.

The agreement that was signed stated that more doctors would be invited to the prison hospital for medical treatments, to reduce the occurrence of prisoners needing to see doctors in hospitals outside the prison.

Xie said that prisoners appearing in public places was likely to cause negative social impacts. Each prisoner also needed to be guarded by several policemen during any medical treatment outside the high walls, which was a burden on the police force.

Doctors from other hospitals also provide training sessions for the prison staff members to improve their medical skills, he added.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of medical staff in the prison would be asked to engage in advanced studies at the six hospitals, the agreement said.

Xie said that more plans for medical resource sharing, technical cooperation, and talent cultivation would be worked out by all involved soon.