Ganapathy, Archana
Holla, Ramesh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2296-3719
Darshan, B. B.
Kumar, Nithin
Kulkarni, Vaman
Unnikrishnan, Bhaskaran
Thapar, Rekha
Mithra, Prasanna
Kumar, Avinash
Article History
Received: 13 April 2019
Accepted: 13 June 2020
First Online: 23 July 2020
Compliance with ethical standards
: Approval was sought from the Institutional Ethics Committee of Kasturba Medical College before commencement of the study. During the study, informed written consent was taken from all participants after clearly explaining the study objectives in a language known to them. If the participant was unable to read/write, the informed consent was taken from a Legally Authorized representative or next of kin.
: Prior to the commencement of the study, the study protocol was submitted for approval to the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) of Kasturba Medical College. Thereafter, permission was obtained from the Medical Superintendents of the concerned hospitals for conduction of the study. Study objectives were clearly explained to the participants in a language familiar to them. Anonymity and discretion of the information given by the patients were maintained with utmost care and a written informed consent was obtained from the participants.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.