Medical coverage assured for SEA Games

Despite budget limitations, the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games medical overall chairman Dr. Raul Canlas yesterday assured 100 percent coverage in the different venues of competition for the duration of the biennial event.

Dr. Canlas said medical units were deployed as early as last week when the men’s football competitions began.

Each medical unit is made up of at least a doctor, a nurse, a physical therapist and an emergency response team with a paramedic and an ambulance driver. A unit may be larger depending on the nature of the sport it is monitoring. Contact sports, for instance, will require a larger unit.

Aside from deploying medical units, Dr. Canlas set up a network of referral hospitals about 15 to 20 minutes away from each venue. In Metro Manila, the referral hospitals on standby are the Manila Doctors Hospital, Manila Adventist Hospital, Asian Hospital, Medical Center Manila, Ospital Ng Maynila, Medical City and St. Luke’s Medical Center. There are also designated hospitals in Subic, Angeles City, Cavite, Laguna, Bacolod and Cebu. The hospitals will be ready to designate doctors for emergency surgery if necessary.

The nerve center of the medical group is at the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine (PCSM) inside the Rizal Memorial complex. Medical units are also stationed in or near the 71 hotels where athletes, officials and other delegates are billeted in Metro Manila. The units are capable of conducting drug testing and addressing nutritional, sanitation and environmental issues.

Dr. Marion Rivera is in charge of medical coverage while Dr. Alejandro Pineda is on top of testing procedures for dope use.

Dr. Canlas said he submitted a P9.9 Million budget for the medical program but releases are in trickles.

"We’re working around limitations," said Dr. Canlas, a University of the Philippines graduate who took his fellowship training in Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery at the Minneapolis Sports Medicine Center of the University of Minnesota in 1992. "Philsoc is very supportive. Our volunteer group of 80 doctors and 480 paramedicals, including physical therapists, ambulance operators, emergency response teams and nurses, is efficient, competent and dedicated."

Dr. Canlas, 45, heads the PCSM which has a staff of 34, including psychologists, physical therapists, physiologists, dentists, strength and conditioning coaches and nutritionists. The staff is coordinating the medical work from the nerve center.

Dr. Canlas said the big delegations are accompanied by about 10 team physicians and the small delegations by three to five. In all, there are some 70 team physicians in town. Aside from the team physicians, each participating country is represented by a member of the SEA Games Federation Medical Commission.

Dr. Canlas said the medical program is being undertaken in coordination with the Department of Health and specialty organizations such as the Family Physicians Association, the Philippine Association of Rehabilitation Medicine Specialists, the Philippine Orthopedic Association and the Sports Medicine Association of the Philippines.