The aim of the present study was to determine the pattern of structural and functional disorders encountered in an Asian gastroenterological clinic and to compare this pattern with findings from Western centres. Consecutive new patients (totalling 2384) attending the clinics of two consultant gastroenterologists were studied. Of these, 2141 suffered from gastroenterological problems. One thousand and sixty-three (49.6%) had structural diseases, the commoner ones being liver disease, peptic ulcer, malignancy, haemorrhoids and gallstones. The remainder who were found to have no structural disease (n = 1078; 50.4%) were deemed to have functional disorders including non-ulcer dyspepsia, irritable bowel, simple constipation and functional diarrhoea. The proportions of functional and structural disease were similar to those in the West. Major differences included a higher frequency of hepatoma and a lower frequency of inflammatory bowel disease and gastro-oesophageal reflux in the present series.