Browsing by Author "Shah, Utkarsh"

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    Impact Assessment of Nutritional Supplement Program in Urban Settings: A study of under nutrition in Slum Community of Mumbai
    (2011-02) Shah, Utkarsh
    Malnutrition among 0-6 years is an impending problem, especially among economically backward communities in urban India. In an attempt to alleviate malnutrition, within the target community, the Foundation for Mother and Child, India, prepared a special food supplement, using cheap and locally available resources. A brief evaluation study was conducted to evaluate the impact of this food supplement on improvement in parameters like weight, height, and mental abilities among the participants. The study was conducted between August 2010 to October 2010 (n=51), with the participants divided in four different age groups. The height and weight parameters were compared to ICMR standards for the age to understand the impact of the program. The mean improvement in height was 0.84 cms (SD-0.6) while the mean improvement in weight was 0.57 kgs (SD-0.8). A significant variance was observed due to different consumption levels of the supplement and differing levels of under-nutrition. A strong correlation was observed between the consumption level and the improvement in height and weight parameters. In addition, a positive correlation was observed between the extent of deviation from ICMR standards and levels of improvement in height and weight parameters. No differential in terms of gender was observed within the community. No significant findings were observed with reference to improvement in mental ability, primarily as the study duration was short. The study has laid the roadmap for a larger and multifaceted study to be conducted to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the nutritional supplement.
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    Private Sector in Indian Healthcare Delivery: consumer perspective and government policies to promote private sector
    (2010-12) Shah, Utkarsh; Mohanty, Ragini
    This research paper attempts to collate literature from various sources, in an attempt to answer three pertinent questions related to healthcare in India. Firstly, what is it meant by ‘private sector’ in healthcare delivery system of India, secondly how has the private sector evolved over the decades and what has been the role of the government in propelling the growth. Finally, the paper tries to highlight some of the factors that have promoted the growth of private sector in India with specific reference to quality of medical care. The paper explicitly indicates that the deficiencies in the public health delivery system of India, was the key to growth of private infrastructure in healthcare. The shift of hospital industry for ‘welfare orientation’ to ‘business orientation’ was marked by the advent of corporate hospitals, supported by various policy level initiatives made by the government. Today, there are over 20 international healthcare brands in India with several corporate hospitals. However, a large section of the ‘private healthcare delivery segment’ is scattered and quality of medical care continues to remain a matter of concern. This paper tracks the various government initiatives to promote private investment in healthcare and attempts to explore the reasons for preference of the private sector. Surprisingly, in contrast to contemporary belief, quality of medical care doesn’t seem to be the leading cause for preference of the private sector. Except for a few select corporate and trust hospitals, quality of medical care in private sector seems to be poor and at times compromised.
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    Quality and Cost of Healthcare: an Indian prespective an assessment of direct cost of quality across hospitals in India
    (2011) Shah, Utkarsh
    With recent advances in healthcare, quality has become a pertinent issue. As the demand for healthcare is rapidly rising with increasing population base and increasing levels of affordability, so is the demand for quality healthcare services. Superior quality of medical care is often associated with higher costs of hospitalization. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between quality of medical care services and the cost of hospitalization across hospitals in India. The findings have indicated a strong positive association between the cost of hospitalization and infrastructure, while a negative association was observed between staff to patient ratios. Though both these parameters affect and contribute to superior quality of care their impact of cost of hospitalization differs significantly.