Report: Redressal Cell and Saadhan Helpline - An Integrated Solution for PLHIV

IEC-MDACS has under its wing the Saadhan Helpline and the Redressal Cell. Both these services work together to bring about an integrated solution for PLHIV (People living with HIV).


Saadhan Helpline:

Saadhan helpline which provided HIV, AIDS and Family Planning related information and counseling to thousands of callers from India and abroad under the PSI banner during the last 15 years has been successfully transitioned to Mumbai District AIDS Control Society and has officially commenced operations from May 2, 2011 onwards.

The MDACS Saadhan Helpline has received more than 250 calls within the first month of operations and the current call rate is up to 400 calls per month. The Saadhan counsellor solves queries of the common man on HIV/AIDS. Counselling is free of cost and confidentiality of the caller is maintained.

Integrated Solution to PLHIV:

IEC-MDACS has brought together Saadhan Helpline and the Redressal Cell under its umbrella. This is to mainly make sure that PLHIVs get all help possible in getting the right treatment at the right time. While Saadhan Helpline listens to their problems and puts them in touch with the right people, the volunteers of the Redressal Cell co-ordinate with the Health set-up and PLHIV to give them maximum support.

The following is an actual case study without divulging the names of the people involved:

Case Study

Gender: Female              Age: 29 years
Marital Status: Single        Occupation: Service
Education: Graduate                Location: Mumbai
Source: MDACS- IEC material        

A distressed female had called up the helpline seeking help for her HIV positive brother. She stays with her old father and her brother. Being handicapped with a leg problem and also being the sole breadwinner, she was finding it difficult to manage things at home. Her brother’s uncontrollable aggressive behaviour and deteriorating health had become a major cause for concern.

A few years after being diagnosed as HIV positive, he had lost his job due to recurrent health problems. Since then he had become very aggressive, cynical and threw tantrums. His wife and child were also HIV positive. Unable to cope with his misbehaviour, his wife had left him taking their child with her. This incident had an even worse impact on him. Turning into a complete recluse, he started shunning people and had limited conversation only with his sister.

She also mentioned that although he had started ART at a government hospital, he stopped it later since he was upset that HIV positive patients were being discriminated at the hospital and was also worried about confidentiality being maintained. He had destroyed his reports too. Later, as her brother refused to step out of the house, the caller arranged for ART from a private doctor. The doctor also paid home visits to treat her brother’s opportunistic infections. However, the caller’s brother misbehaved with the doctor too, resulting in discontinuation of ART.

At the time of the call, the caller’s brother was having several opportunistic infections and was not able to retain food as he was continuously throwing up. His sister would get the medications for him from the same private doctor and he would take the medications only if she personally gave him which was not always possible.

The caller wept throughout the call, overcome by frustration and helplessness. Empathising with the caller’s situation, the counsellor explained the importance of prompt medical intervention, also informing her about organisations providing home based care and referred her to a PLHIV support group. The counsellor also provided referral of redressal cell’s volunteer (Project Parivartan) to facilitate the process of ART registration. The caller thanked the counsellor for her support and information.

Feedback received from the redressal cell volunteer:

After her conversation at the helpline, the female had called the redressal cell volunteer. She disclosed that she had been unable to establish contact with the PLHIV network. At her request, the volunteer agreed to visit their house and counsel her brother. Initially, her brother fought with his sister for calling the volunteer but later there was a change in his behaviour. The counselling served as a catalyst in changing her brother’s behavior whereby he became more open to his sister contacting the volunteer. The volunteer developed a good rapport with the caller’s brother and interacted amicably with him. Within a couple of counselling sessions, the caller’s brother volunteered to get admitted to the hospital. The redressal cell volunteer helped out in arranging for free ambulance service and admitting him into a government hospital. Currently, his treatment is underway at the hospital and he is due to be discharged soon. He still continues to interact amicably with the volunteer.

Conclusion:

MDACS is absolutely proud to show such a strong impact of bringing together the two services that function independently. Namely, Saadhan Helpline and the Redressal Cell have been brought together and they co-ordinate in such a way that it is totally solution-oriented and of great use to PLHIVs.

Report: STEPS TAKEN FOR FORMATION OF REDRESSAL CELL

After the guidelines for forming a Redressal Cell were approved, it was required to get in touch with the hospital authorities who were in charge of the ART centre.

PEOPLE RESOURCE is the most important thing while setting up of the Redressal Cell. And for this, we needed support from the ART centres. The staff-members of the ART centres were to form The Committee. Then, we required the support of the PLHIV Community Representatives who would become Volunteers at the Redressal Cell.

Thus, for the formation of the Cell, we needed to approach the stakeholders, namely, ART Staff and PLHIV Community.

And this is how we went about it:

1. Approach to the ART-In-Charge

We wrote to the ART-in-charge and invited them for a meeting at MDACS under the chairmanship of Hon. Project Director Dr. S.S. Kudalkar. The brief meeting lasted for 2 hours where the importance of setting up a Cell was explained clearly to the ART-in-charge. They contributed with their feedback and suggestions to enable a smooth functioning of the Redressal Cell. They also showed keen interest to support the Redressal Cell. The meeting was concluded with the decision that the ART-in-charge will send their representatives, i.e, the Medical Officer and Counsellor of the ART centre who will be representatives of the Redressal Cell Committee.

2. Sensitization Workshop for the Committee Members

A one-day workshop was conducted to explain the need for Redressal Cell to the ART Centres’ staff members.

Agenda for Committee training

Committee member details & ART Centres’ Weekly Committee Meeting Schedule

The Workshop was also represented by the PL-HIV community to initiate a healthy discussion so that the needs of the health centre and the community were addressed.

Conclusion: A Committee was formed to ensure the smooth functioning of the Redressal Cell. But the actual day-to-day affairs will be conducted by the volunteers. Hence, it became very important to train the volunteers who were from the PL-HIV Community.

3. 2-Day Volunteer Training

1st Day (September 5, 2011)

Inauguration: The 2-day training session was inaugurated by MDACS officials with a lamp lighting ceremony. In the opening speech it was mentioned how important the volunteers were in the functioning of the Redressal Cell.

Ice Breaker: It is very important that the participants take part in the workshop without any inhibition. That’s why some small games were conducted to break the ice. This made for a good start.

Objective of workshop: This was conducted by Ms. Vinitha Venkatraman, JD, IEC-MDACS, where the vision was explained clearly.

Introduction to Redressal Cell: Meena & Anthony are from the community and they play the role of Redressal Co-ordinators. It was their responsibility to co-ordinate with all the volunteers to set up the Redressal Cell at the ART Centres.

Medico legal Aspects: Advocate Nitu Sanadhya is from the Lawyers’ Collective. She ran everyone through their rights and how they can get access to Lawyers’ Collective in case of any discrimination in the family, workplace or society.

2nd Day (September 6, 2011)

BCC (Behavioral Change Communication): The volunteers have to do a very important thing. They have to bridge the gap between PL-HIV and Health set-up. They have to liaison with the various departments in the Health set-up and this requires communication skills. They were trained for the same. Ms. Genevi Fernandes was the lady who gave them the basic communication training during the workshop.

ART & Other allied services: If a PL-HIV needs treatment from other departments, there are chances of discrimination from the doctors there. That’s when the volunteers play a major role in liaison work and bring justice to the issue. Dr. Rankhambe is the consultant, ART, who co-ordinates with MDACS.

Report Writing & Documentation: The volunteers made accurate reports and documented everything that happened during these two days so as to ensure that everything will be carried according to the plans made during the workshop.

Vote of Thanks: There was a vote of thanks that was followed by the distribution of I-Cards to the volunteers.