Kolkata's liver diseases speciality institute opens its doors to children

KOLKATA: As the Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences (IILDS) stepped into its 11th year, the institute opened its doors to paediatric patients by starting a full-fledged paediatric gastroenterology department.

Inaugurated on Friday, the unit will start functioning from March 2. Despite the rising gastrointestinal problems among children, Bengal lacks this superspecialty facility. Sources said that the govt-run IPGMER & SSKM Hospital is the only tertiary care hospital in Bengal that has a functioning paediatric gastroenterology department.


In the private sector, it is limited to isolated clinics run by a few specialists. Sources said that across the country, only a few hospitals have dedicated paediatric gastroenterology departments.

“The burden of gastrointestinal diseases like fatty liver in children is on the rise, whereas there is a dearth of dedicated units offering organised care for the paediatric population. A gastroenterologist for adult patients is not trained to deal with children. These children need trained doctors. We will open both OPD and in-patient facilities from March 2,” said hepatologist Abhijit Chowdhury, Chief Mentor to Liver Foundation West Bengal (LFWB), which runs the Sonarpur institute.

The institute roped in experts, including paediatric gastroenterologist Professor Ujjal Poddar, former department head at SGPGIMS Lucknow, and paediatric hepatologist Sammannay Das from ILBS Delhi, to lead the team at the Sonarpur institute.

“Gastrointestinal diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and fatty liver, became very common among children due to lifestyle and food habit changes. But this superspecialty is lacking in the eastern and north-eastern parts of India. Since IILDS is a non-profit philanthropic organisation, I thought this organisation was the best place for me to come back to Bengal for patient care as well as research activities,” said Poddar.

After graduating from North Bengal Medical College, Dr Poddar left the state for higher education. Sources said he was instrumental in establishing the paediatric gastroenterology department at SGPGIMS Lucknow, from where he superannuated recently.

“Over the years, we increased the number of services, including liver transplant, and added infrastructure by introducing high-end machines, including those for imaging and radiation,” said IILDS Executive Director Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, who is also secretary, LFWB.

Started in February 2016 with OPD services, IILDS today is a 100-bedded hospital. Run on a not-for-profit basis, in addition to patients from the state, the hospital in Sonarpur also caters to patients from the neighbouring states and the north-eastern part of India. Apart from patient care, the institute conducts various research activities and has various international collaborations. It also runs a nursing institute now.