18 WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS OCTOBER 2014 Editorial | Expert Point of View | Gastro 2015: AGW/WGO | WDHD News | WGO & WGOF News | WGO Global Guidelines | Calendar of Events Annual International Gastroenterology Meeting in Pakistan Aamir Ghafoor Khan, MD MSc(G) DGM RCP&S(G) FRCP(Lond) FRCP(G) FRCP(Ed) FRCPI(Ire) FEBG(Eu) FRSM(UK) FACP(USA) FACG(USA) AGAF(USA) President Pakistan Gastroenterology & Endoscopy Society The Annual International Gastroen-terology (AIG) meeting was held from April 14 – 18, 2014. This meeting had a special significance as it was the first time that the Pakistan Society of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (PSGE) held a joint meet-ing with another sister organization, in this case the Pakistan Society of Hepatology (PSH). For those of you who were not able to attend, let me highlight some salient features of the meeting. The host was the Balochistan Chapter under the Chairmanship of Dr. Sherbat Khan and Prof. Altaf Alam (organization committee from the PSH side). Col. Farrukh Saeed acted as Secretary for the Joint Congress. The program began with a two-day Endoscopy workshop held at Holy Family Hospital, hosted by both Professor’s Umar and Khaar. On the first day, a hands-on training work-shop was held for trainee fellows. It was very well attended, and both local and international faculty imparted training to the trainees. The foreign faculty included delegates from the UK, USA, China, India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka. The next day, an Advanced Endos-copy workshop was held in which all international faculty performed advanced endoscopic procedures. For the first time in Pakistan and regional-ly, a POEM procedure was performed for achalasia by Prof ’s Fan Zhining (China), S. Iqbal (USA), I. Sauid (UK), and myself. The procedure was a total success, and I am pleased to report that the patient has recovered well and is now eating without any symptoms of dysphasia. The meeting then moved out to PC Bhurban - Murree, where the core meeting was held. The scientific pro-gram was very well thought out, and all the Gastroenterology and Hepatol-ogy topics including recent advances were covered. On the inaugural night, Prof. Zafarullah Chaudary, President, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP), was the chief guest. The next day at the Gala dinner, the Governor of Balochistan was the chief guest as well as his younger brother, Dr. Hamid Achakzai, who is a quali-fied specialist and currently a Minister in the government of Balochistan. After the function, a musical eve-ning was held which was enjoyed by everyone and continued until late into the night. One major highlight was that 11 research papers were selected for oral presentation by trainee fellows and all of them were awarded shields and cash prizes as an encouragement. The last session was closed by mid-day with the Minister of Health, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Mr. Shaukat Yousafzai as chief guest at the concluding session. The next Annual Congress will be KPK’s turn and is scheduled to be held from April 2 – 5, 2015 at Serena Hotel Islamabad (www.psgpeshawar. com). The meeting is going to be held jointly for the first time in our region with the Asia Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) with IBD as the single topic theme. I invite you all to join us at the next Pakistan GI society meeting in Islamabad. Professor Khan gives a talk during the Annual International Gastroenterology (AIG) meeting. Celebrating the collaboration between the Pakistan Society of Gastroenterology and GI Endoscopy and the Pakistan Society of Hepatology.
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