Hepatology in India and INASL: A Ringside View

Abstract

A few months back the Editor-in-Chief of this journal asked me to write a contemporary piece on ‘the future of hepatology in India’. He said, “You have touched some of these issues as an outgoing president, just put it in writing”. I was very reluctant to take up this task in the beginning. My lack of enthusiasm stemmed from two main reasons. Firstly, I was aware that three doyens of Hepatology in India namely Dr. Subrat K. Acharya, Dr. Yogesh K. Chawla and Dr. Shiv K. Sarin, (in alphabetical order), had delivered exquisite discourses on this issue some time back. And then, given my service background, I was insulated from the forces that have led to chaotic development of this specialty in India. But possibly what I did have was the best ringside view, to be able to introspect and comment on the development of Hepatology in India during the last few decades. In the Armed Forces, we often spend considerable time in planning and in trying to ensure careful execution of the agreed plan. I am still not clear if such an exercise was ever done in India for Hepatology. We are far from having a clear plan as to how many Hepatologists does our country need? How are we going to get so many doctors to specialize in Hepatology? If we do manage the required numbers, how would we employ them to have best results for our people?