Department of Gastroenterology

The Department of Gastroenterology started in 1987, and presently has 6 faculty members, 16 senior residents and 60 beds. The department has 4 major goals (1) specialized high quality patient care (2) high standard of post-doctoral superspecialty training, and (3) research in gastrointestinal and hepatico pancreatico diseases.

The department is one of the busiest in the hospital providing out door consultation to our 17, 000 patients annually. More than 200 patients are admitted to the ward each year for in-patient care while over 7500 diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures are performed annually. The GE laboratory performs more than 11500 tests per year. This department is one of the few of its kind to provide state-of-art investigations such as manometry, pH metry, malabsorption studies, breath tests and capsule endoscopy.

The DM (Gastroenterology) programme started in 1989 and is approved by the Medical Council of India. Presently 4 candidates are admitted annually, 46 have successfully completed the course till date. In 1992 department started a 1year PDCC (Post Doctoral Certificate Course) in Pediatric Gastroenterology. Ten candidates have successfully completed this course. Further 04 candidates obtained their PhD from this department while 06 are presently pursuing the PhD programme.

On the research part, the department has been very active, it has published 117 papers in indexed journals, contributed 31 book chapters, and 3 books. A total of 13 intramural and 26 extramural research grants totaling approx 204.8 lacs has been obtained by the department from some leading science organizations such as DST, DBT, ICMR, WHO.

The department lost its founder and leader Prof. SR Naik in 2002. To commemorate his memory, the department has initiated an annual SR Naik Memorial Workshop at SGPGI in August each year and sponsored two travel grants per year through the national society to post-graduates to obtain short-term training from any advanced gastroenterology center.

The department organized several national and local conferences, the highlight being the Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology in November 2001 and the Annual Conference of the Indian Association for the Study of Liver (INASL) in March 2004. Presently the secretariats of these 2 national societies are in this department.

With the passage of time, some equipment need to be replaced, while new technological advances need to be ushered in. The department received a grant from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India for the purchase of an endoscopic ultrasound machine (to replace the outdated one), an image intensifier and an ultrasound with a rectal probe. The thrust areas of the department are: GI physiology, liver diseases (Fatty liver disease, Chronic Hepatitis C and Chronic Hepatitis B), Chronic Pancreatitis, Gall Bladder Cancer, Malabsorption and Helicobacter Pylori.