Gastrointestinal endoscopy training in India.

A structured endoscopy training program with clear goals for proper teaching and evaluation serves to alleviate apprehensions in the minds of trainees regarding this crucial area. It also ensures that training is acquired not in isolation but in the setting of ongoing patient care, so that the emphasis is on how the procedure fits into the overall management plan for the patient. By specifying the details of the endoscopy unit set-up, the qualifications of the trainer and the number of procedures to be performed by the trainee, it is hoped that uniformity will be produced in the quality of training imparted, whether it be in a teaching or a non-teaching hospital. The end-product of such training, through the DM/MCh or the DNB stream, is a gastroenterologist who is also a certified endoscopist, capable of performing all standard diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. A further period of focused training for 1 to 2 years is required to achieve the level of competence expected of an advanced therapeutic endoscopist. There is little room for short-term training courses in endoscopy for the basic training of an endoscopist, although such courses are useful as CME activities, for the maintenance and renewal of skills of the trained endoscopist, as well as providing him with exposure to new and evolving therapeutic techniques. Efforts at improving and standardizing the training and practice of GI endoscopy in India are likely to remain exercises in futility without the active and dynamic involvement of all the leading professional societies in the country. The need of the hour is the establishment of technical committees for laying down standards in training and practice of GI endoscopy that should be voluntarily approved by all these societies so that they may then be implemented by the State medical councils and the MCI. A move in this direction from within the profession is far more appropriate and is also likely to find greater acceptance than such moves imposed from above, at the behest of judicial authorities. A system of hospital accreditation committees for large public and private sector hospitals offering endoscopy services, supervised by the accreditation committee of the State medical council, needs to be established. Clinics and nursing homes offering these services also need to be approved by the same committee after meeting standards similar to those laid down for larger hospitals. Mechanisms for audits of performance and outcome of endoscopic procedures as well as periodic participation in CME activities for maintenance of skills and expertise need to be established and linked to periodic renewal of credentials for practising GI endoscopy. Procedures for credentialing for new endoscopic techniques need to be established. The path ahead is long and arduous but we must tread it for it will only become more difficult if we procrastinate.