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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
The 2010 Local Organising Committee has appointed a team of experts in various areas of healthcare to serve as its Medical Advisory Team to assist in the local implementation of the Medical Services Plan for next year's Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup. The team is being led by Martin Schwellnus, Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Sports Physician at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. Schwellnus has served as second vice-president of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) and vice-president of the African Union of Sports Medicine (UAMS). Project 2010 asked him...  What is the main goal of your team in the build-up to these tournaments? In the pre-tournament phase, it is to formulate policies and standard operating procedures that will guide the provision of health and medical services for the 2009 Confederations Cup, the 2010 FIFA World Cup and related events in collaboration with the LOC Medical Officers. We will establish infrastructure and maintain key strategic relationships with the various institutions and players in doping control services in order to assist FIFA Medical officers involved in doping control. We will also co-ordinate the scientific support, research, medical education and training events/activities (including the 2010 Football Medical Conference) in order to develop the various service providers and healthcare professionals involved in the LOC events and activities. In the tournament phase, we will oversee the implementation of policies and standard operating procedures that guide the provision of health and medical services for both tournaments and related events in collaboration with the LOC Medical Officers. What are the main challenges that you are facing? All the medical services to make these tournaments successful - from a medical point of view - exist in South Africa. The challenge is to co-ordinate these services in order to provide seamless delivery. How much experience will you draw from the medical teams which have served at previous mega sporting events? Off course we have already and will still be consulting with collegues who have done this before. We also collectively have considerable experience in planning and delivering medical care at international sports events. Will the doping control measures be significantly different to those which were implemented at previous World Cup tournaments? Probably not, but we will be following closely any new developments as these are communicated to us by FIFA. Will doctors and other medical personnel be able to volunteer their services for the World-Cup? Definitely. This is a large task, and we will need to mobilise substantial numbers of medical doctors and other health professionals to make this a success. more interviews...
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