Apollo Hospital Muscat signed an agreement with Oman Cricket as a healthcare partner recently. The agreement was signed officially by VT Saileshwaran, Managing Director of Apollo Hospital and Pankaj Khimji, Chairman, Oman Cricket.
“We are extremely grateful to the management of Apollo Hospitals for collaborating with Oman Cricket as its official Healthcare Partner and supporting our efforts to promote Oman as a sporting destination,” said Pankaj Khimji, Chairman, Oman Cricket who signed the agreement on behalf of OC.
VT Saileshwaran, Managing Director of Apollo Hospital reiterated their support and said “We have a strong team in sports medicine and we are happy to join Oman Cricket, the official governing body of the cricket sport in Oman in making the sport reach and maintain its international standards in technical level by providing the best of medical support.”
Apollo Hospital Muscat is a well-known healthcare provider in the Sultanate of Oman, which provides the most modern state-of-the-art health- care services under one roof with highly motivated and dedicated professionals. The multi-specialty hospital is looking at the development in the sports field with enthusiasm and has its facilities and experience steered for the new role.
K P Shobha, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo Hospital Muscat said, “We look forward to providing holistic healthcare services including prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and health education for the cricket players. We offer approximately thirty specialty clinics and we can proudly claim that we are one of the hospitals in the Sultanate, offering regular super specialty consultation clinics under the expertise of visiting doctors from India, Germany and Jordan in the field of Spine, Orthopedics, Urogynaecology, Urology and Neurosurgery”.
Well geared to all on-field and outdoor emergencies
The Hospital team is well equipped and prepared to provide prompt and emergency healthcare services from the cricket academy grounds to the hospital, according to the internists Dr. Dilip Kumar Singhvi and Dr. Wahid Khan and orthopedicians at Apollo Hospitals Muscat.
“The most common injuries occur during the fielding in a cricket match, when trying to catch the ball which sometimes could cause finger fractures of the players. Most players are prone to what is called as on field injuries which would need primary healthcare attention – from preliminary examinations to clear the player basically if they are to fit enough to proceed with the game. In case of a sprain or ligament tear, the players would be shifted to the hospital with immediate management of the injury. Whatever the injury is we have the facilities to manage the treatments,” said Dr Raghavan, Orthopedic Surgeon.
The Orthopaedic and Sports surgeon of Apollo Hospital Muscat Dr Saseendar Shanmugasundaram, explained that the most common injuries comprise of ligament tears of the knee (ACL, PCL, meniscus tears, shoulder dislocations (Bankart tear), as well as ankle ligament tears. “Injuries from cricket can range from minor to major – can be finger injuries, or sometimes can be Knee or shoulder dislocations. We manage all these injuries with a goal of getting them back to sports performance at the earliest” said Dr Saseendar Shanmugasundaram.
“The treatment of an athlete is always different from treating a regular patient. A sports person is all about performance, not simple pain management. So rehabilitation plays major role with them. We, Apollo hospitals being the official healthcare partner of Oman cricket, have assigned a designated sports medicine specialty team to take care of the players when they arrive here during the matches.
We also have an efficient on field medical team who will be on constant contact with the hospital team. On field injuries will be attended to on priority with our ambulance ready to pick the players and bring them to the hospital. Regular follow ups with the Oman Cricket physiotherapist will also be done. Our goal would be to provide the best and prompt treatment and to make sure the player is fit as soon as possible to resume the match” elucidated M. Vijay Kaliswaran MPT (Sports) MIAP, Sports physiotherapist, Apollo hospitals.
