ITALIAN GASTROENTEROLOGY - PRESENT AND FUTURE

In a recent article in the Lancet(1) Italian authors presented some ne gative aspects of Italian medicine: too many doctors remain without a job for too long and the state of medical training appears to be unsat isfactory. At the same time they observed that Italy has international ly recognized scientists and working groups of outstanding quality in practically all sectors of clinical medicine and research. The situati on could be improved by the better coordination and use of available r esources. The present article briefly describes the status in Italy of gastroenterology, a branch of medicine that is considered to be impor tant in most countries. In Italy, however, despite considerable achiev ements in research, the teaching of this specialty and the creation of the necessary infra-structures have received scant attention, and var ious aspects have evolved in an anomalous fashion with respect to othe r European countries.