19th NSF: Commission Plans Clinic For Medical Staff

The Director of Sports
Medicine, National Sports Commission (NSC), Abdulkadir Muazu, said the 2014 edition of the National Sports Medicine Course would hold during the National Sports Festival in November.
Muazu told newsmen in Abuja that the course was meant for doctors and other para-medical staff who provided medical care to athletes.  “You may recall that we promised that this course will be an annual event and we are committed to ensure that we hold this course every year.
“But for us at the National Sports Commission (NSC), the year is extremely busy.
“So our thinking is since we will have everybody from the states coming to Calabar for the National Sports Festival (NSF) in November.
“And because of the very tight programmes we have this year – the African Youth Games, the Commonwealth Games, the World Cup, the Youth Olympics Games – it may be very difficult to be in Abuja.  “So, our plan now is to see if we can hold that course in Calabar.“
The sports medicine director, however, noted that the 2014 edition of the course would involve international instructors.
“We are trying to make it international; I have spoken to a couple of experts in sports medicine in the UK, especially in the University of Nottingham and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
“If the situation permits, they are very keen to partner with us to help us to make us to develop the capacity of a lot of our people who are providing medical care to athletes at the state level because these are our future champions; these are our future elite athletes.
“So, unless we are able to sort out their medical needs in a way where at least, they have access to some form of basic medical support, we feel that it may not be possible to provide an effective support system to them.“