My visit to Ghent – the first YPUC exchange

Posted on November 3, 2014

At end of October the first ypuclub exchange took place. I went for one week to Ghent, Belgium in order to get an insight of another ESPU/JCPU fellowship program and learn how things are done there.

Ghent is a beautiful medieval city in the Flemish part of Belgium, the main language being Netherlands. The Department of Urology at the University Clinic of Ghent (“UZ Ghent”) is among the biggest departments in Belgium. Paediatric urology is incorporated into the department, Prof. Dr. Piet Hoebeke is the head of the whole department as well as the program director for the ESPU/JCPU fellowship program. Currently there is one fellow.

Among the whole spectrum of pediatric urology, functional problems including enuresis and demanding reconstructive surgery especially in hypospadias as well as redo procedures are the main fields of research. During the week in Ghent I was able to gain important insights and to learn a lot not only there but also on a wide spectrum of pediatric urology including robot assisted reflux-surgery.

Francoise, who currently is in the Ghent Fellowship program was a very nice host and took care of me during the whole week.
I can highly recommend to anybody interested in pediatric urology spending a week at this extraordinary unit and I am looking forward to Françoise's visit here in Linz!

Bernhard Haid