Goan Sports Association upgrades medical facilities

The recent incidents involving Bolton medio Fabrice Muamba and Bangalore Mars’ D Venkatesh have thrown everyone into caution, at least in Mumbai sporting circles. The major worries for the players were cuts, bruises, fractures and dislocations that were treated either by a bandage or Dettol. But the two cases have shown that one has to be prepared with advanced equipment.

Reacting quickly to the recent episodes, the Goan Sports Association (GSA), on whose ground the 15th Goan Sports Association (GSA) veterans’ football tournament for the Late Aniceto Fernandes Memorial Trophy is being played, has at its disposal a brand new ambulance with a professional medical practitioner ready to deal with the circumstances.

Conrade Pereira, secretary of GSA, said: “Yes, the two incidents have certainly woken us up. Earlier, the medical kit used to have Dettol, cotton and a bandage, but with life becoming so stressful, it goes beyond it.”

Since the association hosts tournaments for all age-groups, from children to veteran, Pereira said that he did not want to take any chance. “We have an ambulance and a professional medical practitioner to attend to any untoward incident,” he said.

However, they can’t go hi-tech like the Premier League organisers. “Muamba incident was a complete miracle. For a person, whose heartbeat had stopped for more than 70 minutes, to come back to life was only because of advanced medical facilities. Obviously, we cannot afford it. But as far as these Venkatesh-like incidents are concerned, it has certainly opened our eyes,” Pereira said.

A veteran player, who did not want to be named, said: “Earlier, we never saw an ambulance at GSA’s Cross Maidan, but thankfully, good sense has prevailed after those unfortunate incidents.”

Results: Air India 5 bt Reserve Bank of India 3 via tie-breaker (full time: 1-1)