Sports Medical Units in 25 provinces to help sports conscious people

By Ranjan ANANDAPPA

SPORTS MEDICINE: In a quest of improving the health condition of sportsmen and sportswomen, The Sports Medicine Unit is planning to construct medical units in 25 provinces according to the Mahinda Chinthana program.

"There is a plan to construct medical units in 25 provinces which should help sportsmen and sportswomen immensely to be healthy citizens. We know there are illnesses caused by natural causes and some injuries through sports. Any sickness could be job threatening, but an injured sportsman at times is liable to lose his job because the injury could be a different one from normal circumstances.

There are plans to build Medical Units in 25 provinces with doctors holding diplomas in sports medicine. But the Main Medical Unit in the capital should be fully equipped which could be called "the center of excellence", said Prof. Arjuna de Silva the new "boss" of the Sports Medicine Unit.

"We have excelled in many fields of sport, by winning medals at Olympics and winning the World Cup at cricket. We can reach greater heights in sports. We have also shown that we are on a high pedestal and second to none where the medical profession is concerned.

Given the proper infrastructure, we could be on par with Singapore where medicine is concerned although our standard of sports is very much higher than Singapore", added Prof. Arjuna de Silva.

He also stressed on the importance of "research" in the Medicine Unit. For a country or an institution to move forward research is an important factor, you could fathom a country's progress via research.

In some European countries we have some excellent Sri Lankan doctors, who love their motherland and love sports, we should also try to get the maximum from them as well, irrespective of their caste and creed or which political party they belong to. If we shed these differences there is no reason as to why we cannot make steady progress.

"I have represented the country at rowing, so I know a role of a sportsman as well as the medical aspect of a sportsman. I am aware of the problems that they have to encounter. However, the problems that arise these days are quite different from the ones we had some years ago.

The common problems that we come across these days is the consumption of banned substances. There is no secret where this is concern. "A national sportsman or a sportswoman is considered as a national treasure. So we should protect them. At the same time there is also a certain amount of responsibility that lies on the individual. They should know, if he or she has been found guilty of being under the influence of banned substances it is his/her responsibility to face the consequence."

The sports minded Prof. Arjuna de Silva went on to say, "We have information from reliable sources that the drug menace has also spread into schools. The parents have the right to question the coach as to what has been given to their children to enhance their performance," he added. The Sports Medicine Unit and the Anti Dope Unit was founded by Dr. Geethanjana Mendis in 1991. After 20 years Prof. Arjuna de Silva was appointed as the Head of the Unit.