Chamara Basnayake is a gastroenterologist based in Melbourne, working at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne in Victoria. If you’ve been dealing with gut symptoms that don’t settle, he helps people get a clearer picture of what’s going on and what to do next.
Gastroenterology is a big area, and it covers a lot of different problems in the stomach and bowel. In many cases, his patients come with things like ongoing indigestion, reflux, or pain and discomfort that make daily life harder. Conditions such as GERD and peptic ulcer disease are often part of the conversation, along with issues around the oesophagus like esophagitis.
He also looks after people with bowel conditions, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), colitis, and inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Some patients have symptoms that come and go, while others have flares. It can be stressful, so the approach is usually practical and steady, focusing on getting symptoms under control and understanding triggers where possible.
At times, referrals are for more urgent or serious problems. Examples include acute pancreatitis and other inflammation or injury related to the digestive system. There are also less common conditions that can be hard to diagnose, like gastroparesis, systemic sclerosis (SSc), and scleroderma. These can affect how the gut moves and how the body handles digestion, so care needs to match the cause, not just the symptoms.
Some people also need help with issues related to the back passage and bowel lining, such as hemorrhagic proctocolitis. Others may be dealing with intestinal pseudo-obstruction or short bowel syndrome, where food and fluid absorption, and gut movement, can be quite complicated.
Viral gastroenteritis can bring its own set of concerns too, especially when dehydration becomes a risk. Over time, Chamara Basnayake works with patients to sort out what’s likely happening, plan the right tests if needed, and choose treatment options that suit the situation.
