As promised in our last newsletter here are some recent updates from Ruma Abedona Hospice plus an experience which for us, and the patient, was quite disturbing.

On the 8th June we had two visitors arrive from Melbourne Australia Michael and Natalie. They are our guests until July 15th. Their plan is to gain intensive knowledge of our work; share their thoughts with us and help where possible. When they leave here they plan to visit other parts of India. We were very disturbed recently by an incident that could easily have tarnished our reputation. Let us explain…

Treating tropical disease or terminal illness does not only run the risk of death it also makes people who are being treated vulnerable to people who cannot be trusted. Ruma Abedona Hospice recently had such a case which showed us how easily someone can be deceived.

An elderly widow, Smt. Parbati Paul a resident of Serampore, West Bengal , has two sons who had to go out of the state for employment. The lady had terminal cancer and had no relative to take care of her. A male neighbor offered to help her and brought her to R.A.H. but did not fully inform her of the nature of our service. In short, the man brought her to our free service but took money from her to pay us, but instead he pocketed her money, saying it was for treatment and medicine. At the initial visit to the Hospice, it was noticed that the man did most of the talking without allowing the lady to talk much. Each time the patient's condition got worse the man gave the same story and he took over.

Our suspicions were aroused, so one day we gave her a surprise home visit. The patient was a little uncomfortable with the visit, until our friendly volunteers were asked by the patient how much the home visit was costing. The volunteers told her it

was the same as each previous visit; she was a bit shocked but went into another room and brought 200 rupees out. Then she asked about the cost of medication. We then knew the woman was being deceived, so we asked her to sit and we explained that ours was a completely free service and she had been duped. The patient started to weep, shocked that someone would take advantage of her at such a time under such circumstances.

She also told us that her neighbor had taken larger amounts claiming it was for her treatment and tablets. Hospice volunteers assured her that we would do all in our power to see that her money was refunded, and encouraged her to be more careful before parting with her money.

This experience has given us a shock and a wakeup call to make sure that we are not only focusing on our cure and care management but also making adequate information available to patients, their households and neighbors as to the nature of our services so that people will not be so easily cheated.

We are developing our mode of operation so that patients will receive proper treatment without further harassment.