Speaking as chief guest at a seminar yesterday, he said specialisation in these diseases has developed very lately and only six medical colleges of the country have gastroenterology department.

The health adviser stressed the need for uniformity in all medical colleges with an oblique reference to their poor conditions and lack of research initiatives.

He said equal resources should be distributed to bring harmony among the medical colleges.

The health adviser said need-based analysis is essential to know the number of gastroenterologists that the country requires.

The seminar titled 'An Update on Peptic Ulcer Disease' was organised by Bangladesh Gastroenterology Society at Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre in the city. It was sponsored by Eskayef Bangladesh Ltd.

Eskayef has been producing Losectil capsules since last 12 years for the people suffering from acid-pepsin (stomach enzyme that digests protein) disease.

Prof Dr Niklaus Eugen Gyr of internal medicine department at University of Basel, Switzerland presented the keynote paper where he highlighted the causes of peptic ulcer, its prevalence, and differences between gastric and duodenal ulcers.

He also talked about when to refer a patient with peptic ulcer to physicians and what should be avoided if a person is diagnosed with this ulcer.

He also talked about Helicobactor Pylori, which is the main cause of peptic ulcer.

Prof Dr AK Azad Khan, honorary president of Bangladesh Gastroenterology Society, said though massive changes have been brought in country's treatment method, yet there is no recent countrywide statistics on how many people are affected with this ulcer that was found 12 percent among the adults in 80s.

Prof Dr Mahmud Hasan, president of Bangladesh Gastroenterology Society, and AM Faruque, managing director of Eskayef Bangladesh Ltd, also spoke.