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Article History

Received: 21 February 2019

Accepted: 10 October 2019

First Online: 26 October 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This health services assessment was exempted from research ethics review by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Montreal Hospital (CHUM) based on article 2.5 of Canada’s Tri-Council Policy Statement, [] and also by the Indian Institute of Health Management Research. Front-line health workers were directed to participate by their superior officers. Members of the general public gave verbal consent to participate in interviews. The decision to request verbal rather than written consent was based on the judgment that the research presented no more than minimal risk of harm to subjects and involved no procedures for which written consent is normally required outside of the research context. For example, similar assessments of immunisation services administered by the Indian government do not seek written consent of participants. Field staff worked in pairs; the study purpose was explained by one surveyor and the participant’s decision to provide verbal consent was recorded on the study form by the other surveyor.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.