Philip, Rekha Rachel
Philip, Sairu
Tripathy, Jaya Prasad
Manima, Abdulla
Venables, Emilie
Article History
Received: 17 July 2017
Accepted: 25 January 2018
First Online: 14 February 2018
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: Since permissions were not possible from those individuals whose past records were accessed for the study we could not take informed consent from the patients. The study protocol was presented and discussed with the managing committee of Manjeri Pain and Palliative clinic. The committee gave permission to conduct the study (Ref No.R1/16–17)). The Institutional Ethics Committee of Government Medical College Manjeri also reviewed the study protocol and agreed that since only secondary data from records was being used for this research, permission from the authorities of the Manjeri pain and palliative care clinic would be enough (IEC No.01/EC03/2017/GMCM). Data confidentiality was strictly maintained. Only the study investigators had access to the data collected. Names and other personal identifiers were not collected. Hardcopies were kept in locked cabinets and softcopies in password protected computers. The Ethics Advisory Group of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Paris, France also gave ethical approval for conducting the study (EAG number: 97/16).
: Not applicable
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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