CEHAT(Centre for Enquiry Into Health and Allied Themes)

CEHAT joined a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) brought by Dr Ranjana Pardhi and others to improve the response to sexual assault cases. It called for gender-sensitive measures and urgent medical treatment for survivors, as well as psychosocial counselling. However, the committee appointed by the Nagpur High Court and charged with developing the formal guidelines lacked competence in sexual assault investigations. Despite the involvement of CEHAT, the new guidelines did not fulfil WHO criteria. CEHAT submitted a review application, sought WHO advice, and communicated with the Maharashtra Government. The health department's protocol was deficient and violated the law. The court found in favour of the health agency, preventing survivors from receiving justice. CEHAT is challenging the guidelines in the Supreme Court, arguing that they should be replaced with Ministry of Health guidelines that are in conformity with WHO standards.

This project is in collaboration with the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and is Supported by Bajaj Auto Ltd. It aims to integrate gender in undergraduate medical education. It has been initiated in 4 semi-urban and rural medical colleges. The project aims to ensure that health services in public hospitals become sensitive to women's healthcare needs and address gender disparities. It focuses on training medical educators in gynaecology and obstetrics, forensic medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, and community medicine to facilitate gender-sensitive health services in the MBBS curriculum. Implementing clinical practice changes and specific protocols to prevent labour room violence in the four participating medical colleges and developing protocols for gender-sensitive clinical practices in psychiatry, forensic science, medicine, and gynaecology departments.

The project seeks to provide technical support to the replication of 13 Dilaasa centres in BMC hospitals of Mumbai. CEHAT aims to work in close links with the core groups of healthcare providers and capacitate them to take on the training of their counterparts and monitor the quality of services provided to VAW survivors. It also works closely with counsellors of the Dilaasa centres and shares their caseload related to complicated cases (burns, attempted suicides, life threatening assaults, severe mental health consequences and the like).

The project is divided into three parts. The first step is to compile a reference list of studies that look into the subject of disrespect and abuse suffered by women during childbirth. The second part is a qualitative study being undertaken in two Maharashtra public hospitals to better understand healthcare providers' opinions on behaviours that are considered disrespectful and abusive in labour rooms. The third component focuses on creating a training curriculum for healthcare providers that focuses on giving respectful care to women during childbirth.

It investigates the implementation of this Government-funded health insurance plan in Maharashtra. The study looks at the availability and distribution of healthcare services in the district, the procedures performed at both public and commercial hospitals, the beneficiaries' utilisation patterns, and their experiences with the plan. The study looks into the private sector's involvement in the scheme, which is based on a public-private partnership (PPP) framework.