Published in Delhi Gazette, Extra ordinary Part 4, No. 76, dated the 18th April, 1988, vide Notification No. F. 9/75/87-Home (General) (12), in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (28), of Section 59 read with Sections 37, 38, and 39 of the Prisons Act, 1894 (9 of 1894), by the Administrator of the Union Territory of Delhi.

DL92

Short title and Commencement.- (1) These rules may be called The Delhi Prisons (Medical Administration), Rules, 1988.

(2) They shall come into force at once.

General Matters
Resident Medical Officer.- There shall be a Resident Medical Officer who shall be in-charge of the hospital of the Central Prison and who shall be the highest authority of the department of prisons in medical matters.
Resident Medical Officer to be controlled by Additional I.G.P.- The Resident Medical Officer shall function under the immediate control and command of Additional I.G.P.
Resident Medical Officer to control all medical personnel.- The Resident Medical officer shall control, subject to other provisions made in the statutes, statutory rules and executive orders concerning governance of the prisons, all medical personnel of the prison administration and his assessment regarding the technical performance of medical personnel shall be final.
Medical Officer to be posted in each prison.- At least one Medical Officer shall be posted to one prison. In every prison there shall be a chamber for the Medical Officer, arrangement for examination of the sick and waiting place for the sick. There shall be a room with a window to dispense medicines to the sick who does riot need hospitalisation.
Medical Officer to control all medical personnel posted to a prison.- Medical Officer shall control all medical personnel posted in a prison and shall also control such convict-officers who are given the medical duty by the Superintendent.
Resident Medical Officer to specify the hours of duty.- (1) The Resident Medical Officer shall specify in a written order the hours of the day when the Medical Officer shall attend to his duties in the prison and the hours of the day when the Medical Officer and any of the members of his staff shall attend to the duties assigned to them in the hospital.

Provided that at least one Medical Officer shall be on duty and available.

Provided also that prior approval of the Additional Inspector General shall be taken to the proposed arrangements.

(2) Copy of such arrangements shall be given to the Superintendent who shall make the arrangements known to all concerned.

Classification of prisoners according to health.- The health of every prisoner shall be described as either "good", "bad", or "indifferent". Prisoners on admission to jail who are in immediate need of medical treatment should be recorded as in "bad" health, unless suffering from trivial and temporary ailments; those who are not fit for hard labour, but who do not need hospital treatment, should be recorded as in "indifferent" health.

Note: If a prisoner is in bad or indifferent health, the Medical Officer should enter the cause of the disability in his history ticket and admission register.

Drug addicts.- The drug addicts shall be identified at the time of admission and treated after separating them from the rest of the prisoners.
Deduction for clothing & c, when weighing prisoners.- When being weighed, male prisoners shall wear their trousers only ; female prisoners shall be fully attired and deduction made for the articles worn.
Abstracts of results of weighments.- (1) An abstract of the results of weighments shall be prepared by the Medical Officers on the day following that on which one weighments are made showing ;—

(1) the number who gained weight;

(2) the number whose weight remained stationary ;

(3) the number who are from 1.5 kg. to 2.5 kg. below standard weight ;

(4) The number who are more than 2.5 ko. below standard weight;

(5) the number who are more than 3.5 kg. below standard weight and

(6) the percentage of those who gained weight and lost weight respectively, calculated on the total number weighted.

(2) The Medical Officer should himself select number of prisoners at each weekly inspection for a "check-weighment".

(3) All prisoners who have lost weight to the extent indicated in clauses (3), (4) and (5) above shall be separately paraded for the inspection of the Medical Officer.

Convalescent and infirm gang.- (1) A gang shall be formed of all prisoners, discharged from hospital who are unfit to return to their usual work, of the aged and infirm, and of any others whom the Medical Officer selects for special observation and treatment. Every prisoner who appears to be suffering from obscure functional or organise disease or from malnutrition as indicated by his anzmic or otherwise unhealthy appearance, shall be placed in this gang which shall be termed as the "convalescent and infirm" gang.

(2) Convalescent and infirm prisoners shall be divided into two classes, namely, those who are old and infirm or permanently incapacitated for hard work and those who, with suitable diet and treatment, are again likely to be restored to normal health and to become fit for hard labour. The two classes shall be known, respectively, as the "permanent" and "temporary" convalescent gang.

(3) The convict officer on medical duty shall issue a coloured card to the prisoner describing the special diet permitted to a sick prisoner and it shall be the duty of the Assistant Superintendent concerned to ensure that the prisoner gets special diet properly cooked.

(4) Very old and feeble prisoners should receive 8 ml. of oil occasionally, to be rubbed into the skin.

(5) Prisoners suffering from active illness shall be removed to hospital, and not treated in the convalescent gang.

Convalescents to be weighed weekly—Record to be kept.- The members of the convalescent gang shall remain together and shall ordinarily, not be mixed up with other prisoners ; they shall be weighed every week on such day as the Medical Officer may fix and the weighments recorded in the history-ticket for the information of the Medical Officer. The daily average number in the gang should be shown in the column "remarks" of the monthly return of the sick.
Convalescent to be seen daily.- The members of the convalescent gang shall ordinarily be seen daily by the Medical Officer who may recommend any weak or convalescent prisoner for untasked work.
Attachment to and removal from, the convalescent gang.- Under the orders of the Medical Officer, prisoners who have recovered health and no longer require special attention, shall be removed from the gang. No prisoner shall be placed in or discharged from the gang except by order of the Medical Officer.
Procedure when prisoner are losing weight.- Whenever an unusual proportion of the prisoners have lost weight, or here is a general tendency to scurvy or to ulceration of the gems or anaemia, or an increase of admissions to hospital from dysentery or other bowel complaints, the Medical Officer shall make careful enquiry to ascertain in the cause. The diet of the prisoners should then be varied by the liberal issue of animal food in lieu of dal; onions and radishes may be substituted for a portion of the vegetable supply. Both the Superintendent and the Medical Officer should occasionally visit the prisoners while at their meals, and ascertain if therein, there are any complaints regarding the food and if much of it is left uneaten. If the food appears to be unpalatable owing to want of variety, this defect should be remedied as far as possible.
Labour and loss of weight.- If the loss of weight is more marked amongst prisoners on one form of labour than on another, the tasks should be carefully regulated and the prisoners employed on that particular work changed should the tendency to loss weight continue. Prisoners who at three successive weighments are found to be losing weight, or in whom the loss of weight at any weighment, is found to be over 2.5 kg. should not ordinarily be placed on hard labour till they recover the loss. On the other hand, the Medical Officer should guard against being imposed upon by prisoners who scheme to loss weight, by causing such prisoners to be weighed unexpectedly at short intervals.
Removal from barracks.- The Medical Officer shall exercise his discretion as to the time at which the prisoners shall be taken out of their wards.
The prophylactic system of treatment.- The prophylactic system of treatment especially as regards malarious fever and in scquelz and bowel diseases, should be adopted at the seasons when such diseases are most prevalent.
Hospital Management
Prisoners complaining of illness to be examine.- Every prisoner complaining of illness shall be brought before, and be examined by the Medical Officer who is to determine whether he shall be placed under observation, treated as an out patient or admitted to hospital.
A prisoner may be detained under observation.- No prisoner may be detained in hospital more than 24 hours under medical observation, without being brought on the hospital register ; if it is necessary to detain him for a longer period, he must be admitted.
Articles to be supplied to patients.- Each patient shall be supplied with an iron cot, a thick grass or straw mat, a pillow, two bed sheets, a mattress, a cotton cost and dosuti trousers, a woollen coat in winter time, and as many blankets as the Medical Officer deems necessary.
Maintenance of bed-head tickets and temperature charts.- Over every occupied bed in hospital shall be placed a ticket wherein shall be recorded full particulars of the history of the patient and the progress and treatment of the disease. In a case of dysentery, it should be noted whether the prisoner suffered from the affection in his own home or had acquired it in the jail, and in every case of fever a record of the temporary shall be kept. Suitable class frames for holding these tickets should be provided.
Cleanliness of clothing and bedding.- The Medical Officer shall take measures of to ensure the cleanliness of clothing and bedding. For this purpose a proper place for washing and boiling soiled clothes should be provided. Blankets, blanket-coats and bed-sheets should be frequently boiled those in use in hospital should be treated separately.
Sick prisoners to bathe daily.- Prisoners in hospital who are not too ill, shall bathe daily at such time as the Medical Officer may direct.
The feeding of sick prisoners.- As a rule, sick prisoner should receive four meals a day. There shall be a separate cooking-shed in the hospital enclosure, a special cook appointed and suitable vessels provided for the preparation of food for the sick. Arrangements should be made for the frequent feeding of sick prisoners and for having sage and other invalid food constantly ready. The special diets shall be served after being properly cooked.
Sick prisoners may be given light work.- As a certain amount of physical exertion is an important factor in the maintenance and improvement of health in many cases and helps to keep the mind occupied prisoners who are not too ill should be provided with some light work without any definite being exacted, such as spinning threated or the like.
Intimation of serious illness to relatives.- Information of the serious illness or death of every prisoner shall be given to the District Magistrate of the District to which he belongs, for the purpose of having the information conveyed to his relatives, and an intimation of the serious illness or death of prisoners undergoing trial shall also be given to the courts concerned.

Delhi Prisons (Medical Administration), Rules 1988.