A new gastroenterological division has recently been opened at the 1st Department of Surgery, which is specialized in both out-patient care and it has an in-patient care section suitable for the admission of 20 patients. The name of the department was also modified on the basis of a Senate decision made in August: as of now, the activities of the department are supplemented by interventional gastroenterology as well. The new division was opened by Dr. Béla Merkely, rector, Dr. Lívia Pavlik, chancellor and Dr. Attila Szijártó, department head. As it was stated during the opening ceremony, gastroenterologists and surgeons now work at the same department, which contributes to a quality improvement in health care. In addition, this will result in the further reinforcement of educational and scientific activities as well.
A new gastroenterological division has been opened at the 1st Department of Surgery in September, which is specialized in both out-patient care and it has an in-patient care section suitable for the admission of 20 patients. The name of the department was also modified on the basis of a Senate decision made in August: the former name was changed to 1st Department of Surgery and Interventional Gastroenterology. The opening of the new gastroenterological division was being held in the framework of a ceremony.
Dr. Béla Merkely expressed his appreciation regarding the developmental projects of the department. According to him, the lecture hall, where the ceremony was being held, has changed a great deal since he last visited it.
“It feels good to enter this lecture hall; it is bright, nice, clean and elegant, worthy of a surgical department”, said the rector, who was talking approvingly about the accomplishments of the department.
As Dr. Béla Merkely pointed out, such a discipline has been developed that we could not have imagined several years earlier. He also highlighted that previously, as head of the Clinical Centre, he had considered the establishment of the basis of interventional gastroenterology as one of his most important tasks. The recently opened division was created by following the model of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery, and it will take care of the treatment of gastroenterological-surgical patients as a so-called comprehensive centre – Dr. Merkely described. The patient care of the division includes the entire scope of gastroenterology, such as diagnostic procedures, functional gastroenterological diseases, the treatment of obstructions.
“I truly wish that the expansion of the clinical work here will result in the further reinforcement of educational and scientific publication activities as well”, emphasized the rector.
Dr. Attila Szijártó, head of the 1st Department of Surgery and Interventional Gastroenterology recalled the circumstances of the foundation of the institute. In 1909, there was a sign at the Surgical Department located between Üllői street and Mária street (now it is the Department of Dermatology, Venerology and Dermatooncology), the aim of which was to call the attention of the patients that the institute was moving to another location. The same piece of news was published in a two-page long article in the Budapesti Hírlap on September 27, 1909.
“Following the relocation, the most modern surgical department of Europe was established here 111 years ago at the corner of Szigony street and Üllői street, led by Gyula Dollinger”, pointed out Dr. Szijártó.
“We have constructed for today, in full knowledge of the fact that tomorrow will have completely different demands”, Dr. Szijártó recalled the words of Gyula Dollinger.
In the past more than 100 years, the activities of the department was accomplished in accordance with the above mentioned approach and the institute achieved significant medical results – said Dr. Szijártó. With the help of photos as illustration, he talked about the reconstruction of the department and he described how the recently opened gastroenterological division was established.
“We love this division as if it was our child, since we have been able to keep track of its emergence from the very beginning”, highlighted Dr. Klára Werling, head of the new division of the department, who has been working at the department for 32 years.
“We would like our department to become one of the leading gastroenterological institutes in Hungary, where graduate, postgraduate and additional professional trainings, conferences are being organized”, said she.
According to Dr. Klára Werling, the most important is that the new division should serve the patients’ interests. Gastroenterologists and surgeons now work at the same department, which contributes to a quality improvement in health care: the specialists can discuss and evaluate the patients’ condition and medical results in cooperation, therefore they can make decisions about the treatments in a more rapid and well-founded way and the recovery of the patients is also accelerated.
Dr. István Hritz, director of the endoscopic center of the department described the most significant historic and medical events of the discipline’s history, particularly highlighting the decisive moments of Hungarian endoscopy in the past, for example when the gastroenterological work section was established in 1957 in the framework of the Hungarian Society for Internal Medicine. He recalled the clinical milestones that had been realised at the 1st Deparment of Surgery: at the end of the 1970s – beginning of the 1980s, the first endoscopic treatment was carried out here in the case of bleeding esophageal varices. The emergency services of the acute care of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding was also established here in the 1980s.
The new division, where 8 gastroenterologists, 7 specialized personnel in endoscopy, a PhD student and an administrator work, has an in-patient care section that is suitable for the admission of 20 patients, with an additional number of 10 hospital beds located at the surgery department in the framework of the so-called matrix health care. It is the surgery department where the monitoring of the patients’ condition takes place after the interventional procedures.
“Our division is an accredited national colon screening center and capsule endoscopy was also established here”, emphasized Dr. István Hritz.
Gallery
Following the opening of the ceremony, the invited guests had the opportunity to visit several rooms of the department’s new gastroenterological division, after which there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the participation of Dr. Béla Merkely, rector, Dr. Lívia Pavlik, chancellor and Dr. Attila Szijártó, department head.
Ádám Szabó
Photo: András Dimény
Translation: Katalin Illés-Romhányi
