Harshad Thakur

• MBBS, MD, DBM
• Professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248408.].

Background: Effective immunization supply chain (iSC) is crucial for safe and timely transport of potent vaccines to the beneficiary. India's iSC, with a network of ~29,000 cold chain points (CCP), measures its quality standards using the World Health Organization-United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (WHO-UNICEF) global tool on e...

Objective: Population aging is an ongoing challenge for global health policy and is expected to have an increasing impact on developing economies in years to come. A variety of community health programs have been developed to deliver health services to older adults, and evaluating these programs is crucial to improving service delivery and avoiding...

Background: Although many studies have investigated the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among Indian subjects, no meta-analysis has been conducted to determine the comprehensive epidemiological point, annual, lifetime prevalence of LBP among Indian subjects. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate...

Purpose: Despite increased usage of telemedicine to deliver treatment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the efficacy of telerehabilitation for spine pain is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effect of telerehabilitation on pain and disability in patients with spine pain treated during the COVID-19 pandemic and com...

Background: Delhi being the capital of India is overcrowded due to the rapid migration of the people from different parts of the country for the purpose of better employment and education opportunities resulting in development of slums and as a result of lack of proper documentation, lack of awareness intermingled with the other major factors these...

Technology plays a crucial role in all fields of life, including providing healthcare services to the population. Moreover, it is ever evolving and dynamic in nature. Every day, there is news about the development of new healthcare technology, which claims it is more effective than the previous one. Healthcare professionals must remain updated and...

Objective: The study aims to describe the experiences of healthcare providers in delivering care to older persons at a private hospital in urban India. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen healthcare providers delivering care at a private hospital in Hyderabad city in India between the periods November 2017 to April 2018...

COVID-19 was an unexpected public health emergency. The key positive features of the Indian health system were demonstrated during the pandemic. Postpandemic is the time to introspect. Various issues and challenges facing the Indian Public Health System require due attention.

The precursor chemicals crimes are an ongoing debate in the contemporary world. These crimes have blown out of proportion and assumed serious problems in India as well. The problem seems to be extended in the regions of NorthEast , NorthWest and SouthWest of the country. These problems are about special precursor chemicals that are Acetic anhydride...

Correct placement of the femoral component in the coronal plane during primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is related to long-term survival. The aim of this radiographic study was to determine the accuracy of a novel three-step technique for improving the accuracy of the distal femoral cut during conventional technique and compare it with compute...

Purpose: Recommendations for resecting distal femur and proximal tibia in mechanical and anatomical alignment techniques are standardized. Kinematic alignment propagates individualizing resection planes. Whether significant variation exists, to warrant departure from standardized resection planes, has not been shown thus far in a large cohort of k...

An estimated 25000 children have multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) globally. Many children struggle during the treatment due to limited availability of paediatric formulation, child-friendly laboratory services and occurrence of adverse events due to injectable.This study aims to determine the final treatment outcomes, culture conversion ra...

Children and adolescents face unique hurdles during DR-TB treatment, that is still unexplored. Aim: To understand the patients, guardians and healthcare providers’ perspectives about DR-TB treatment journey of patients and caregivers.

The significant achievement within public health in India during the past few decades is visualized by a decrease in demographic indicators for health like IMR, MMR, TFR and doubling of life expectancy health care system across the states visages a kind of disagreement of an emerging disconnect between the complexity and iniquitous nature of proble...

Background: As the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, various steps were taken to curb its spread. Government of India introduced contact tracing “Aarogya Setu” app. In this study we assessed the awareness and utility of the app among the residents of India which in turn affects its usage.Methods: This was a community based online cross-sectio...

Background: As per the WHO-UNICEF monitoring report 2012, around 626 million people, or half of the population of India defecate in the open; this explains the high burden of communicable diseases in developing countries like India. In this context present study attempts to assess the effectiveness of school-based awareness programme on toilette et...

Background Childhood multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) still affects around 25000 children every year across the globe. Though the treatment success rates for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) in children are better than adults, children and adolescents face unique hurdles during DR-TB (MDR-TB, Pre-XDR TB and XDR-TB) treatment. This study aimed to understand...

Background Childhood and adolescent drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) is one of the neglected infectious diseases. Limited evidence exists around programmatic outcomes of children and adolescents receiving DR-TB treatment. The study aimed to determine the final treatment outcomes, culture conversion rates and factors associated with unsuccessful treatment...

Study design: Retrospective. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on pain and disability in patients with chronic mechanical low back pain (LBP) treated with multimodal rehabilitation. Summary of background data: Despite being a well-known risk factor for developing LBP, there is minimal data...

Worldwide metastasis of novel coronavirus COVID-19 has caused immense alterations among every walk of human existence and social interaction(1). Education and training sector being as vulnerable to these adjustments as any other domain(2). Owing to its extremely infectious nature, the COVID-19 pandemic enforced the closure of training institutes gl...

SETTING: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic in Mumbai, India. OBJECTIVE: To determine the final treatment outcomes, culture conversion and adverse events (AEs) during treatment among children and adolescents (0–19 years) with rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) who received ambulatory injectable-free treatment, including bedaquiline (BDQ)...

Background Tuberculosis is one of the ten major causes of mortality worldwide. The trend of increasing TB cases and drug resistance in India is very disturbing. The objectives of the study were to study the perspectives and opinions of different stakeholders on the status, challenges and the ways to tackle the issues of TB in India. Methods The on...

The significant achievement in public health in India during the past few decades is visualized by a decrease in demographic indicators for health like IMR, MMR, TFR and doubling of life expectancy. But grading people’s health and the health care system across the states visage a kind of disagreement of an emerging disconnect between the complexity...

Background and aims Worldwide, lifestyle is a significant risk factor for diabetes. Lifestyle changes can lead to differences in the extent of risk of diabetes among women and men. Kerala, a state with one of the best health indicators in India, has a high prevalence of diabetes. This study aimed at comparing the variations in the risk factors for...

Objective: The study aims to describe the experiences of older persons in seeking health care in a private hospital in urban India. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 older persons admitted in or visiting a private hospital in Hyderabad city in India between the period November 2017 and April 2018. The data were analyzed usi...

Purpose This retrospective study aimed to determine the efficacy of an integrated active, rehabilitation protocol in patients ≥ 65 years of age with chronic mechanical low back pain and compare the results in similar patients in 50–64 years age group. Methods Pre- and post-treatment mean numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) score, mean Oswestry disa...

Background: Pre-hospital emergency medical services (PHEMS), have a positive impact, the health outcomes of trauma and accident cases, but, can be relatively inefficient and wasteful. PHEMS are generally operated on a public private partnership (PPP) basis and the inherent inefficiencies can be attributed to the structural arrangement. Objectives:...

Many a times, clinicians require objective evidence to support their clinical diagnosis or to decide on medical line of treatment in addition to presenting signs and symptoms. X-ray is vital for patients seeking primary and emergency care for tuberculosis, pneumonia, trauma, and other respiratory and abdominal diseases. Even though x-ray is essenti...

This article provides a perspective on the evolution of health management education in India, its current state and the way forward. Health management originated in India in response to the administrative needs of the healthcare system, which is now moving toward institutional care, away from its earlier form of home healthcare. As this field evolv...

Background: Lack of menstrual knowledge, poor access to sanitary products and a non-facilitating school environment can make it difficult for girls to attend school. In India, interventions have been developed to reduce the burden of menstruation for school girls by government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We sought to identify challe...

Background: Computer-assisted navigation system (CAS) in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been shown to improve mechanical alignment and prosthesis positioning as compared to conventional TKA. However, the evidence with regard to whether CAS-TKA has better patient function over conventional TKA is not clear. This systematic review and meta-analys...

Background A sudden increase in the estimated number of reported cases of patients infected with H1N1 virus and resultant number of deaths poses a challenging issue in the control and response to the disease. In the current study we sought to summarize a set of pre-defined measures and non-pharmacological interventions that can be employed to contr...

Personal hygiene plays an important role in preventing communicable diseases especially in children. In developing countries like India, the burden of communicable diseases is high which makes an awareness program imperative in school children. The objective was to study the outcome of school-based intervention program in promoting personal hygiene...

Background: Universal health coverage is very vital to propel and power a country"s economic and social development. The National Health Policy, 2017 has reiterated the need to increase public spending on healthcare, to achieve UHC. However, financial constraints and limited capabilities have led governments to engage the private sector, through th...

Background: In low-middle income countries and other areas of poverty, menstrual hygiene management (MHM) can be problematic for women and girls. Issues include lack of knowledge about menstruation and MHM, and stigma around menstruation, also access to affordable and absorbent materials; privacy to change; adequate washing, cleaning and drying fa...

Several factors influencing the length of hospital stay after single or staged bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) have been studied in the literature. However, there is little written about the factors affecting the length of stay after simultaneous bilateral TKA. We wished study the various factors affecting length of hospital stay (LOHS) fol...

Background: From the very implementation of Family planning in India in 1952 the demographic and health profile in India has changed drastically. The current use of family planning methods among currently married women aged 15-49 has increased from 42.8% in NFHS-I (1992-93) to 53.5% in NFHS-IV (2015-16). Methods: Data has been analyzed from NFHS-II...

Background Health systems in low and middle income countries are struggling to improve efficiency in the functioning of health units of which workforce is one of the most critical building blocks. In India, Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) was established at every health unit as institutions of local decision making in order to improve productive efficienc...

IntroductionOne of the principal goals of any health care system is to improve health through the provision of clinical and public health services. Decentralization as a reform measure aims to improve inputs, management processes and health outcomes, and has political, administrative and financial connotations. It is argued that the robustness of a...

Background Local decision making is linked to several service quality improvement parameters. Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) at peripheral decision making health units (DMHU) are composite bodies that are mandated to ensure accountability and transparency in governance, improve quality of services, and facilitate local responsiveness. There is scant lit...

Introduction Government of India launched a social health protection program called Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in the year 2008 to provide financial protection from catastrophic health expenses to below poverty line households (HHs). The objectives of the current paper are to assess the current status of RSBY in Maharashtra at each step...

The main objective was to assess knowledge, practices, and restrictions faced by young women regarding their menstrual hygiene. The views of adult women having young daughters were also included and both views were compared. In addition, the factors influencing the menstrual hygiene practices were also studied. The study was carried out during 2008...

Fledgling steps in the form of policy measures, surveillance mechanisms and safety initiatives have been taken in the Indian healthcare context to address the increasing evidence base of patient safety events. The paper examines whether structural and processual measures alone would contribute to safer care. The article posits that healthcare organ...

Background: The infant and maternal mortality rates in India are amongst the highest in the world. The main goals of this study were to investigate healthcare practices of mothers in authorised versus unauthorised sections of one north-eastern Mumbai slum. Methods: This was a cross sectional study. Quantitative data were collected from an 11- item...

Documented evidence of the usage of complementary and alternative medicine among patients with rare disease such as hemophilia is limited. Therefore, we explored the types of complementary and alternative medicines used, the associated sociodemographic and clinical factors, and the cost and reasons for usage among severe hemophilia A patients in In...

Childhood tuberculosis (TB) reflects on-going transmission. Data on childhood TB from TB registers under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program of 2008 and 2009 in Varanasi district was analyzed. Proportion of childhood TB was 8.3% of total registered cases 12,242. It was lower than estimated 10-20% in endemic areas. In rural Tuberculosis Un...

There is a concern about increased risk of cancer & congenital anomalies in populations staying around Jaduguda Uranium Mines, Jharkhand, India due to uranium mining activities. A crosssectional quantitative study was done to assess the health status covering the area of 5 km around Mining site. From the household, 2,693 were called to the health c...

Ankle sprains are by far the commonest ankle injuries. The traditional clinical approach, to any ankle injury, is a clinical examination followed by radiological examination. We have developed a simple clinical test to rule out fractures in ankle injuries and thereby eliminating the necessity for radiological examination. Our test is simple, reprod...

Background: There have been a number of studies conducted on user fee across the world, however, very limited number of studies have been conducted in India. This study was one of studies conducted at government hospitals in four states in India with the support of the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Methodo...

Although there is general consensus about the efficacy of total hip replacement (THR) in young patients, the most appropriate bearings in young patients remain highly debated. The three most popular bearings in use include metal-on-polyethylene (MOP), metal-on-metal (MOM) and ceramic-on-ceramic (COC). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analy...

The study aims to document, review and analyse the usefulness of user fees for healthcare, with emphasis on its implementation in different states of India. Four states were selected where user fees are in force for the last three years prior to July 2005. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect the data. The denial for subsi...

Quality problem or issue One of the prime goals of any health system is to deliver good and competent quality of healthcare. Through World Bank-assisted Maharashtra Health Systems Development Project, Government of Maharashtra in India developed and implemented clinical indicators to improve quality. Initial assessment During this, clinical areas...

The efficacy and safety of a dietary supplement derived from South American botanicals was compared to glucosamine sulfate in osteoarthritis subjects in a Mumbai-based multi-center, randomized, double-blind study. Subjects (n = 95) were screened and randomized to receive glucosamine sulfate (n = 47, 1500 mg/day) or reparagen (n = 48, 1800 mg/day),...

Kala Azar is a deadly disease which created terror in the minds of people in Assam and the North East in early part of twentieth century. The disease was a silent killer which was mostly prevalent among the tea plantation labourers. However, the situation was thoroughly controlled through regular DDT sprays. But the disease could not be eliminated...