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WMA launches course to help prison doctors confronted with torture
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     The World Medical Association launched a web based course on Tuesday to help prison doctors detect torture and treat victims, in the wake of allegations that US doctors were complicit in the abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay (Lancet 2004;364:725-9).

    The association抯 secretary general, Delon Human, said the 12 hour course, called 揕upin,?is the first one specifically designed for prison doctors and includes guidelines on ethics and human rights that are based on international declarations concerning torture in prisons.

    Developed by the Norwegian Medical Association, a member of the World Medical Association, and sponsored by the Norwegian government, anyone can participate free of charge at the course抯 website (http://lupin-nma.net).

    The course instructs doctors how to recognise the signs of torture, which can sometimes be more a matter of noting the circumstances than a clinical diagnosis, and how to treat the symptoms, Dr Human said.

    It also advises doctors on what to do if they risk their own lives in reporting abuse and includes an online forum where participants can discuss the challenges of working in prisons, he said.

    Dr Human said the course aimed to fill a gap in many countries where educating prison doctors was not a priority. He said that many doctors do not have access to international conventions and rules regulating healthcare services for prisoners, and when they encounter violations they do not know how to deal with them adequately.

    Referring to the US military prison in Baghdad Dr Human said, 揟he recent revelations about Abu Ghraib highlighted the importance of having well trained and well informed physicians.?

    But he said prison doctors in other countries were also confronted with torture and abuse. 揥e hope that this current awareness will highlight the global dimension of this problem,?he said.

    The review published in the Lancet found that doctors and other medical personnel working at Abu Ghraib falsified death certificates to cover up the killing of detainees, hid evidence of beatings, and, on one occasion, revived a prisoner so that he could be tortured later.

    The study, by Professor Steven Miles from the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, also found that medical personnel failed in their duty to report instances of torture and abuse to their superiors.

    The study underlined the main problems facing prison doctors who are confronted with torture: that some colleagues are complicit because they identify with the cause of the torturers, some fear the consequences of refusing to assist or turn a blind eye to abuse, and some do not have an adequate understanding of medical ethics.

    Dr Human estimated that between 100 000 and 200 000 doctors were working in prisons around the world, some of them part-time, and said he hoped all of them would do the course.

    The aim was to make the course part of the curriculum of every medical school around the world, Dr Human said.(Geneva Fiona Fleck)