Guardian

SPORTS medicine practitioners have recommended that every state sports council be persuaded, encouraged and supported to establish sports medicine clinics.

In a communiqué issued after the first course organised in Abuja by the National Sports Commission’s (NSC) Sports Medicine Department, headed by Dr. Abdulkadir Mua’zu, between May 14 and 16, the practitioners agreed the Sports Medicine Course should be used as part of the CME recognised by medical professional bodies for renewal of practicing license, adding that the Sports Medicine Association should be resuscitated both at the national and state levels.

They reasoned that the Course should be a yearly programme to compliment expected major sporting events, and also recommended that the states sports councils as a matter of duty be provided with qualified medical personnel to accompany teams to all competitions, both locally and internationally.

The communiqué urged each states’ sports council/commission to provide adequate budget for sports medicine to facilitate provision of basic medical care in sporting programmes.

It also called on NSC to put together a curriculum for the training of professional Sports Medicine personnel at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) and other institutions of higher learning in the country.