Thursday, October 29, 2009

Malaysia And Singapore Voice Concern About Medical Facilities At The Games Village



KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 (Bernama) -- Two SEA Games Federation (SGF) members, Malaysia and Singapore, have voiced their concern over the move by the 25th SEA Games host, Laos, to locate the national Olympic councils (NOCs) and the medical officers outside the Games Village.

In a chefs-de-mission (CDM) report issued after their meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Sunday and obtained by Bernama today, the two countries said that the the NOCs staff and medical officers ideally must be close to the athletes to assist them when required.

Malaysia was represented at the meeting by chef-de-mission, Datuk Dr Ramlan Abd Aziz.

"The proximity of the NOCs and medical support for teams is very important and any delay in access, even in a matter of minutes, can be a risk to performance potential," Dr Ramlan said in the report.

Meanwhile, representative from Singapore said they had a big medical team including doctors, physiotherapists and psychologists and these people must be close to the atheletes because they worked closely with them.

According to the report, the meeting chaired by the vice-president of the Laos National Sports Committee and chairman of the technical and competition committee, Somphou Phongsa, was told that the Laos SEA Games Organising Comittee (Laosoc) medical team would try to arrange the needed space for the NOCs and medical teams in the Games village once its received the actual number of athletes and officials who would be staying there.

"Although the NOC offices and medical rooms will be located outside the village, the polyclinic will be available in the village," the report said.

The report also said that the Games Village would be officially opened on Nov 27 but some sports such as football for both men and women would start before the opening ceremony, on Nov 9.

The Games Village was built in Nongviengkham village, Xaythany district, near the National University of Laos' Dongdok campus in July 2008.

The project was completed last month at a total cost of US$19 million (about RM65 million).

The village has eight buildings and other auxiliary facilities.

Eight four-storey buildings with international standard facilities will contain 1,000 rooms and accommodate 4,000 athletes.

When the games end, the village and all its facilities will be handed over to the National University of Laos.

The draw for all the events will be held on Nov 9 except that for badminton, which will be held on Nov 5.

-- BERNAMA


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