20 WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS JULY 2016 Editorial | Expert Point of View | Gastro 2016: EGHS-WGO | WDHD News | WGO & WGOF News | WGO Global Guidelines | Calendar of Events Kasturba Medical College Hospital Manipal Observes World Digestive Health Day Shiran Shetty, MD, DM Associate Professor Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Kasturba Medical College Manipal, India On the eve of World Digestive Health Day (WDHD), the World Gastroen-terology Organisation is promoting awareness among people about food and our gut. This year’s theme is “Diet and the Gut.” From time to time across the world people are curious to know about the relationship between what we eat and our gut health. Unlike cardiac or neurological illnesses, people tend to ignore digestive ailments. The Department of Gastroenter-ology and Hepatology at Kasturba Medical College (KMC) in Manipal conducted a free outpatient depart-ment consultation and awareness camp on 28 May 2016 for the public and patients with digestive disorders to mark WDHD. The digestive camp focused on food allergies, food intoler-ance, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), celiac disease, and various intestinal disorders, and aimed to increase the public awareness about digestive ill-nesses and prevention. The program (Left) Dr. Shiran Shetty, Gastroenterolo-gist, educating the public on importance of WDHD. (Middle) Dr. Rajgopal Shenoy, Associate Dean of the Kasturba Medical College, provided advice to patients. (Right) Dr. Dayananda, Medical Superintendent, inaugurated the camp. Dr. Dayananda and hospital team distrib-uting booklets about Diet and the Gut to patients started with inauguration followed by health education and free consultation by our team of doctors. The doctors shared tips on maintaining a healthy GI tract and explained to attendees the need for early detection and prop-er diagnosis of digestive disorders. Dr. Shiran Shetty, a Consultant Gastroenterologist, spoke about the need to diagnose illness and treatment. Dr. Shetty said that, “It is important for patients to pay attention to their gut health, go for regular check-ups and consult a gastroenterologist if they experience any discomfort related to their gut. This is especially important for those over 40 years as undiagnosed gastrointestinal issues can lead to com-plications including cancer.” 1 A patient awareness booklet was also released on the occasion and handed out to all the patients. The booklet included information about digestive ailments. Dr. Shetty educated patients about IBS, constipation, food allergy, gluten (wheat) allergy and various diets. He said that food intolerance and IBS is seen in up to 40% of the population. Food allergies are also commonly seen in the Indian popula-tion, especially among children. The common symptoms of food intolerance and IBS, according to Dr. Ganesh Pai, Professor and Head of the Department of Gastroenterol-ogy at Kasturba Hospital Manipal, are abdominal pain, vomiting, loose stools, bloating, and discomfort. Dr. Pai stated that, “There is no single test which can diagnose the above prob-lems, but after getting to know the patient’s history and careful examina-tion and relevant lab tests will help in management.” Emphasis was placed on healthy diet and lifestyle. About 100 pa-tients attended the camp and availed themselves of fees waivers for consul-tation, including some who received discounts on endoscopic procedures on this day. Reference 1. Important for people to pay at-tention to their gut health. The Hindu. May 30, 2016.
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