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THE SOUTH AFRICAN GASTROENTEROLOGY REVIEW 2022 | VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 1 | 49 these were outpatients and went home after procedure and complications could have been under-reported. Data from South Africa on these complications are scarce. One of the major obstacles encountered during endoscopies was under-prepared patients presenting for the procedure which resulted in 1.68% of cases being cancelled. One-fifth (21.8%) of colonoscopies were reported as normal - which accounted for the second highest finding for colonoscopy. Patients going for colonoscopy should have their bowel properly prepared for at least 48 hours prior to the procedure and be on clear fluids. If this is not done properly, it can lead to frustration to both the practitioner and also cause patient inconveniences as the patient will need to be rebooked. This can lead to a loss of patient personal income and increase costs to the state and consequently leads to overload of the healthcare system. Appropriate patient education regarding the procedure and bowel preparation needs to be emphasized if we are to overcome this obstacle. In a Zambian study from 2014, inadequate bowel preparation was reported to result in 4% of incomplete procedures while a South African study done at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in 2016 showed that 2.1% vs 1.68% of our patients had inadequate bowel preparation and had to be rebooked. 8 Conclusion The main indication for upper gastroscopy in this study was that of epigastric pain and most of these patients had a diagnosis made of diffuse gastritis while the main indication for colonoscopy was PR bleeding and the major findings in these patients was that of haemorrhoids. There were similar endoscopy indications and findings noted in HIV positive patients. A significant proportion of endoscopies that were done yielded normal results questioning the indications for such procedures. Unprepared bowel pose a serious hindrance for a complete endoscopy study. Limitation of the Study As this was a retrospective study no definite associations could be determined between the variables. Acknowledgement: We would like to thank Mr Ranjan and the surgical team at Edendale Hospital for permission to conduct this retrospective research. Conflict of Interest The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. References 1. South Africa. Statistics SA.2010. Mortality and causes of death South Africa 2017. 2. Gary MD, Falk W. Endoscopic surveillance of Barrett’s esophagus. Cleveland Clinic. 2000;4(10):186-193 3. Peterson WG, Depew WT, Pare P, Petrunia D, Switzer C, et al. Canadian consensus on medically acceptable wait times for digestive health care, Canadian Journal Gastroenterology.2006;20(6):411-423. 4. Kolber M , Szafran O, Suwal J, Diaz M. 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