Islamabad:February 05:A three-day international training workshop including courses on Basic Therapeutic Endoscopy involving Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS), Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and procedures through Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA) concluded here at the Centre for GI & Liver Diseases at Holy Family Hospital on Friday evening followed by a liver meeting on Saturday.

The Centre for GI & Liver Diseases in collaboration with Rawalian Research Forum and Pakistan Society of Hepatology organised the 3rd Basic Therapeutic Endoscopy Course and 1st Basic RFA Course on February 2 and 2nd advance ERCP and EUS courses on Feb 3.

The course directors were Professors of Medicines at Rawalpindi Medical College Professor Muhammad Umar and Professor Hamama-tul-Bushra Khaar. The course co-directors were Professor Anwar A Khan and Professor Gen. Tassawar Hussain while international course co-directors were Dr. David Carr Locke from USA, Dr. Peter Sciedermier from Germany and Dr. Jonathan Hoare from UK and Dr. Asif Abbas Naqvi from UK.

According to organisers, the course was the first in the history of Pakistan which was internationally endorsed by American College of Gastroenterologist (ACG), World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO), World Endoscopy Organization (WEO) and American Society of Gastroenterology (ACGE).

The course was designed for consultants and postgraduate trainees in such a way that they can have training on the procedures by foreign faculty. Procedures over 200 patients were performed during the courses that were attended by consultants from all over Pakistan.

“Many complicated procedures were performed by the foreign experts including Variceal Banding, esophageal dilatations, Glue Injection, Polypectomy, ERCP, EUS (Endoscopic Ultrasound), TACE, RFA and TIPS,” said Course Coordinator Dr. Zahid Mahmood Minhas while talking to ‘The News’.

Procedures through Radio Frequency Ablation are done in cases of small liver cancers that are mostly detected in early stage but cannot be operated physically. The facility of Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) — an investigation which is done for diagnosis and management of various pancreatic and biliary diseases — is already available in the liver centre at HFH while the centre has also been providing facility of Endoscopic Ultrasound to patients.

Dr Umar said that international consultants including David L. Carre Locke, Dr. Ali Siddiqui and Dr. Kamran Ayub from USA, Dr. Asif Abbas Naqvi, Dr. Charlie Milson, Dr. Richard Edward, Dr. Jonathan Hoare and Dr. Shahid Khan from UK while Dr. Peter Schiedermaier from Germany performed the procedures to give hands-on training to the local consultants and postgraduate trainees.

In all the courses conducted at the Liver Centre, nearly 500 participants were imparted training on Endoscopy, Advance EUS (Endoscopic Ultrasound) and ERCP, said Professor Umar terming the training the first of its kind in the country.

It is important that the PC-I for Centre for GI & Liver Diseases at HFH was prepared in 2009 with a target of setting up a fully equipped liver transplant centre in the region. In 2009, Rs170 million were approved by the provincial government for equipment and machinery. At that time, Gastroenterology & Hepatology Division was established under Medicine Department of the HFH. Dr Umar is Project Director for the division and the centre that is in the making as purchase of equipment and machinery is in progress. So far, the government has released around Rs110 million of the approved budget with which machinery and equipment have been purchased.

At present, the liver centre being headed by Professor Muhammad Umar and Professor Hamat-ul-Bushra Khaar is providing treatment facilities to a number of patients with diseases of liver and digestive system. The centre is fully equipped with latest diagnostic and curative instruments and would become liver transplant centre within next two years.The news.