The first meeting of the working group on enhancing central-level co-ordination for penitentiary healthcare in North Macedonia took place on 5-6 March 2024, bringing together senior officials of the Ministry of Health, the Health Insurance Fund, the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions, as well as the Skopje Healthcare Centre which covers the largest prison in the country, Idrizovo.

Supported by EU and Council of Europe, this meeting puts into operation the October 2023 conclusions of the high-level discussion  involving the Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister of Justice, aiming to advance co-operation and co-ordination of related public actors to ensure improved provision of healthcare in the prisons in North Macedonia. As a result, in December 2023, the Ministry of Health appointed this working group, as interim measure for co-ordinating the penitentiary healthcare.

In addition to the procedures that regulate the functioning of this working group, the participants discussed the specific steps necessary to boost the existing employment incentives, including the efforts to connect all prison ambulances to the national e-health system, unify the mechanism of providing medications, as well as address the necessary legislative changes that clarify the provision of primary and secondary healthcare.

These activities are supporting and facilitating the implementation of the National Penitentiary Strategy on the Development of the Penitentiary System in the Republic of North Macedonia (2021-25).

By providing institutional support and capacity building, the action “Strengthening the capacities of the penitentiary system in North Macedonia,” implemented in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” remains one of the most important initiatives to support the improvement of prison healthcare in North Macedonia.