The first international conference of Indian Society for Diseases of Esophagus and Stomach will be held from May 11 here and will be on for three days. Specialty treatment was needed for diseases of the stomach and esophagus like heartburn and cancer which were rising in alarming proportions owing to lifestyle and environmental changes and food habits, according to a statement.

This specialty was well developed and the three-day conference was to promote the newer techniques among surgeons, endocopists, pathologists and radiologists, says Gem Hospital Chairman, Dr C Palanivelu.

More than 350 surgeons from across the country besides Prof WJ Hyung and Prof DJ Kim from Korea, Prof Kosuke Narumiya and Prof Harushi Osugi from Japan, Prof Peter Vorwald from Spain and Prof Li Gouxin Guanzhan from China would be present at the conference, he said.

Apart from lecturers, symposia and debate on various issues, there would live operations as part of the sessions.

The hospital is conducting a free consultation camp for gastrointestinal problems, hernia and cancer and selected patients will be treated at concessional rates, he added.