About Department
VISION
The Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology is the first department in the country to impart PDCC and DM degree in the subject and dedicated exclusively to the care of children with Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary diseases. This includes various diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic procedures, radiological interventions and intensive care facility for children of all ages from infants to adolescents. The department has an active research profile, having published many papers in national and international journals of repute. The faculty is involved with creating national and international guidelines for management of children with GI and hepatobiliary disorders.
To expand on what we already have, the department has a vision to increase the bed strength, laboratory and endoscopy facilities as well as increased number of DM seats to train more students.
With upcoming Advanced Paediatric Centre, we plan to increase the number of inpatient beds from 30 to 40 and add private and isolation beds. With the availability of trained faculty and support of allied specialities such as nephrology, neurology, cardiology, pulmonology, neonatology the quality of care of sick children with multidisciplinary problems will improve. An acute liver care facility is also planned with provision of ICU care and impetus on initiating aliver transplant program. The department plans to start new speciality clinics: obesity/MASLD, small bowel support, transition clinic etc.
Augmentation of laboratory facilities to initiate new tests like urine succinylacetone for tyrosinemia, drug levels for thiopurines, fecal elastase is a priority. We have started tests like exchangeable copper and liver copper for Wilson’s disease.
The DM Pediatric Gastroenterology seats have been increased from 2 to 4 from the current academic year (2026). We plan to take it to 6 seats in next 5 years. The department also plans to start Post-Doctoral Fellowship in interventional Pediatric Gastroenterology and PDCC in clinical nutrition to train dedicated man power for care of children with GI and hepatobiliary disorders. There is also a need to appoint faculty in order to provide care to patients and training of residents.
The department also envisions community outreach to help provide Pediatric Gastroenterology services to the patients in the periphery. It will be further strengthened by training physicians working in provincial health services and private sector, who are often the first point of contact for the patient, in understanding various clinical entities, their primary management and timely referral to a higher centre.
We have been working for the “Yellow alert campaign” for early recognition and timely referral and diagnosis of biliary atresia.The “Stool color card” has been shown to be an easy way to pick up biliary atresia early. For this even the Aganwadi worker may be trained.
Hepatitis B infection is still rampant in our state and it is mainly due to unsafe injection practice and mother to child transmission. Besides promoting vaccination at birth, campaign against unsafe injection practice can reduce the number of cases with HBV infection in children. Early recognition and treatment of Hepatitis C can help eradicate an important cause of cirrhosis in adults. With the increasing prevalence of obesity and MASLD in children, education about healthy eating, increase in outdoor physical activity and minimising screen time becomes vital. The department will utilize AI to develop Applications for many of these problems and for this; we will collaborate with STPI (Software technology park of India)