ENDOSCOPY SITUATION AND GASTROENTEROLOGICAL MEDICAL CARE IN BHUTAN

ABSTRACT

Since October 2019, I worked for 2 years as an endoscopist at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, located at Thimphu, Bhutan. Though this period overlapped the COVID-19 pandemic, I was involved in approximately 4, 000 cases of upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy, 350 cases of colonoscopy, and 140 cases of ERCP. In Bhutan, the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori is higher than 70%, and even among young adults the rate is alarming. Gastric cancer is a malignant disease with the highest mortality and is mostly detected in advanced stages. Therefore, a national flagship project that takes aim at the eradication of H. pylori and early detection of gastric cancer has been recently created. Endoscopic health examinations named Endoscopy Camp are being conducted every weekend. In this article, we showed how upper GI endoscopy, colonoscopy, and ERCP is developing in Bhutan, which still lacks sufficient medical resources. We hope more Japanese endoscopists take an active interest in developing countries' medical care. Copyright © 2022 Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society. All rights reserved.