The Pentagon on Monday reaffirmed rules for medical personnel treating detainees, after a report said military doctors helped in the interrogations of prisoners at the “war on terror” prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The Defense Department also reiterated guidelines on the protection of detainees’ medical information, which a medical journal said were systematically seen by interrogators.

In a public policy memorandum dated June 3, which the Defense Department made public Monday, the Pentagon stated that it is against its policy for health care personnel to “apply their knowledge and skills in order to assist in the interrogation of detainees in a manner that is not in accordance with applicable law.”

The New York Times, citing former interrogators, reported Friday that US military doctors advised interrogators on how to increase stress levels and apply psychological pressure on detainees at Guantanamo.

The Times’ account followed a report in the July 7 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine indicating that interrogators at Guantanamo were systematically accessing the medical records of prisoners.

“Although detainees do not have an absolute right of confidentiality with respect to information they share with medical care providers, the general guidance is to maintain such information confidentially, except for approved and documented specific reasons,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“This is the same standard that would apply in US federal prisons,” it said.

“Any detainee related information provided by healthcare personnel for reasons other than treatment must be for a specific purpose, documented and approved by a medical commander before it is released,” said William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.

He added: “To the best of my knowledge we have no credible evidence that a military physician participated in detainee abuse.”

“We expect military medical personnel, and all other service members, to abide by policies that require detainees be treated humanely and to report any suspected detainee mistreatment,” Winkenwerder said in the statement.

The controversy over interrogation techniques used at Guantanamo and other US military prisons, especially those housing terrorist suspects, has grown since the US-led war in Iraq.

Around 520 suspects of some 40 nationalities, captured during the US-led war on terror, are detained at Guantanamo. A growing list of complaints has led to persistent calls that the facility be shut down.