Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Medical Committee, Dr. Adam Baba says strict measures would be put in place to ensure player safety in domestic competitions.
This, he says, will help improve the health of footballers who play in the domestic competitions.
The experienced medical practitioner believes education and training
of medics are two important areas that need urgent attention.
“We will have to start from the internal arrangement. By Internal
arrangement, I mean our local league. What we intend to do is at least
to organize two seminars for handlers, masseurs, physiotherapist or the
Doctors of the Premier League Clubs” Dr. Baba said in an interview with
the GFA media team
Dr. Baba further emphasized on the need to subject players to proper medical scrutiny before competitions.
“One pressing issue that has been going on for years is what we call
the pre-competition medical assessment (PCMA) of the players. It’s
mandatory by FIFA for all clubs to undergo it before they engage the
footballers, its mandatory.
“If a player is to go out (abroad), normally teams would ask for his
medical report which we don’t have. Is it the PCMA’s that we normally
fill?,” he quizzed.
“Our first priority will be education. The other thing is to really
emphasize on the PCMAs. Before the league starts, it should be ensured
that all participating clubs do it and do it well. Because before you
recruit a player, he has to undergo a medical examination and a fitness
test. But all these, we just brush it, once he is playing somewhere, he
comes, we just take the forms and get a doctor to sign.
“So what we shall do is to audit the PCMAs because this thing must be
done for future purposes. We don’t know, any accident can occur and the
international federation would want to know what he went through
medically before you allow him to participate in the competition. If we
fail to produce it, we might be penalized,” the former Black Stars team
doctor also noted.
The GFA Medical Committee has been very busy advising the federation on important decisions amidst COVID-19 and assisting the Government of Ghana in getting Prampram (Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence) ready to be used as isolation Centre. The Committee is chaired by Dr. Adam Baba with Dr. Percy Annan and Dr. Kofi Ablorh as members.
source: GFA
