FIFA’s Vice-President Jack Warner says the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) will leave a medical legacy from which the local communities will benefit after the U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009.
Warner told journalists on Monday in Abuja that FIFA had established “independent clinics for emergency assessment and intensive care of critically ill patients’’ at all eight cities hosting the tournament.
The cities are Abuja, Enugu, Bauchi, Kano, Kaduna, Calabar, Lagos and Ijebu-Ode.
Warner urged Nigeria to maintain the facilities well and put them to good use.
“I plead with all Nigerians to put these facilities to good use and to also make sure that they are well maintained.
“Between 1999 and 2009, I have visited Nigeria 24 times and the facilities we left behind after Nigeria ’99 were not put to proper use. So these ones should not be so,” he added.
Warner explained that a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence at the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) held a course on medical emergencies in football on Octpber 20 and October 21 in Abuja.
“The course covered aspects of mass gatherings and disaster medicine, as well as football injuries and medical conditions that may become emergencies.
“We had Nigerian physiotherapists, team doctors and all other medical personnel representing the various professional and amateur club sides in attendance,” he said.
Warner said the course, which was based on practical procedures, also had in attendance some Nigerian medical specialists, including the medical officers at each of the FIFA U-17 World Cup hosts cities.
The medical initiative, under a project called `Win Africa with Africa’, first emerged on May 15, 2004 when FIFA Executive Committee chose South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Source African Press Agency
