Section 8: Removal of sick prisoners to hospital

(1) In case of the serious illness of a prisoner confined in a prison in which there is not suitable accommodation for him, the Comptroller-General (or, in an emergency, the superintendent) may on the certificate of the medical officer by order under his hand direct the removal of the prisoner to a hospital specified in the order.
(2) So long as a prisoner removed to a hospital under subsection (I) of this section remains in the hospital, the medical superintendent or other person in charge of the hospital shall certify at the end of every month that it is in his opinion necessary that the prisoner should remain in the hospital and shall transmit this certificate to the superintendent.
(3) The medical superintendent or other person in charge of a hospital to which a prisoner has been removed from a prison under subsection (I) of this section, if in his opinion it is no longer necessary for the prisoner to remain in the hospital, shall forward to the superintendent a certificate to that effect; and the superintendent shall thereupon cause the prisoner forthwith to be returned to the prison if the prisoner is still liable to be confined therein.
(4) If a prisoner escapes while he is in the hospital under this section, no prison officer shall be held answerable unless the prisoner was in his personal custody.
(5) All reasonable precautions shall be taken by the medical officers and other officers of a hospital to prevent the escape of prisoners removed there for treatment, and it shall be lawful for those officers to take such measures for preventing the escape of prisoners as may be necessary:
Provided that nothing shall be done under this subsection which is likely to be prejudicial to the health of a prisoner.
(6) Where in view of the gravity of the offence for which a prisoner is in custody or for any other reason the superintendent considers it to be desirable to take special measures for the security of the prisoner while he is under treatment in a hospital-
(a) the superintendent may give the prisoner into the charge of fit and proper persons (not being less than two in number) one of whom at least shall always be with the prisoner day and night, or he may place the prisoner in the charge of a military guard; and
(b) any person or military guard in whose charge a prisoner has been placed under paragraph (a) of this subsection, shall be vested with full power and authority to do all things necessary to prevent the prisoner from escaping and shall be answerable for his safe custody until he is handed over to the superintendent on his discharge from the hospital or until his sentence expires, whichever first occurs.
(7) So far as any of the foregoing provisions of this section imposes functions upon officers or State Authorities, the functions shall not be exercised except with the consent of the State Authority in question or such other person or authority to whom the power to exercise such functions has been conferred.