Dhyanchand Stadium needs medical care

Health centre at the venue still ill-equipped

Health centre at the venue still ill-equipped

Sports injuries are not uncommon in an event like hockey but if you are playing at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, you would want to be safe than sorry.
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Sticking point: Hockey match between India and Scotland was played at the Dhyanchand Stadium on Monday. Pic/imtiyaz khan

Reason: if you incur an injury on the field there might not be any professional medical help available. The Games have already been declared open yet the medical centre at the stadium is ill-equipped both in terms of staff and infrastructure.

Hockey matches had been planned to be conducted at the Shivaji Stadium but work on the project remains incomplete and therefore the organisers changed the venue to the National Stadium.

"There are six doctors at the stadium, but the medical staff has not got their accreditation cards. Without them, how will the medical centre function properly?" asked one of the doctors on duty.

Sources told MiD DAY that many of the doctors did not get their accreditation cards till October 2. The government granted the cards to the medical experts finally, but neglected the support staff again.

There are ambulances available at the venue, but the drivers do not have their accreditation cards."What is the use of such an ambulance? We are not going to drive them and the staff is not permitted to enter the venue," said another doctor on duty at Dhyanchand Stadium.

Higher officials are passing the buck. "I have to check with my team. The Organising Committee did not approve many accreditation cards on time. Now, we may have to shift some staff from other venues to the Dhyanchand Stadium," said Delhi health minister Dr Kiran Walia.No one from the Organising Committee was available to comment on the issue.

Bowled out

>>A Commonwealth Games Indian team official who fell ill with dengue fever at the athletes' village in New Delhi is recovering in hospital, where he will stay for several days, a doctor said. Indian lawn bowls manager Ruptu Gogoi, 30, was the first dengue case from the village where thousands of athletes from 71 countries and former British territories are housed for the Games, which kicked off on Sunday. >>Gogoi, in New Delhi since March, moved into the village on September 23 and two days later reported symptoms of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease, GB Pant Hospital spokesman Rajeev Sagar said. >>"It is difficult to say if he contracted dengue in the village or in a hotel where he and his team-mates were staying temporarily," Mr Sagar said. >>"A friend of Gogoi and some others living in that area (near the hotel) too contracted dengue," Mr Sagar, a senior hospital physician said, adding the ailing official was "stable" and recovering. >>Health authorities at the village said they had re-doubled efforts such as spraying mosquito-repellents to combat dengue since Gogoi was shifted to hospital on October 1.