A Member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Medical Committee and Black Stars Team Doctor, Dr. Prince Pambo, has outlined major outcomes from the Committee’s recent in-person meeting in Lome, Togo.
The meeting, which followed the appointment of a new director for the directorate in charge of football development, brought together medical experts to deliberate on pressing health matters affecting the game across the continent.
“Basically, the role of the medical committee is to discuss all medical matters relating to the game on the continent,” Dr. Pambo explained.
He added that some members of the Committee also serve on FIFA medical panels. “For instance, I serve as one of the sports cardiology people who work on recommendations regarding cardiovascular evaluation for athletes. Another colleague from South Africa belongs to another group working on anti-doping matters.”
MRI, Age Verification and U-15 Tournaments
One of the topical issues discussed was the use of MRI for age determination. “So, yes, people will still have to go through the MRIs just to ensure that passing the MRI is one of the added eligibility criteria,” Dr. Pambo confirmed. The Committee also addressed growing concerns around age cheating in U15 competitions.’’We agreed on a few things to see how we can sanitise that age group so that the appropriate people with the right ages will be given the opportunity to compete.”
Gender Verification, PCMA and Player Health
Gender verification for women’s football, pre-competition medical assessments (PCMA), heat-related illnesses, and anti-doping were also high on the agenda.
“At the beginning of every season, players will have to do this pre-competition medical assessment comprehensively,” he noted. “We want to maintain a drug-free sport, and associations are encouraged to educate players a lot more and widen this campaign.”
Injury prevention and general player welfare were discussed, with emphasis on how CAF’s medical department will support member associations.
Research and Medical Centres of Excellence
Looking ahead, Dr. Pambo revealed that several research opportunities are in the pipeline in sports cardiology and injury prevention. CAF is also pushing to establish at least one Medical Centre of Excellence in each Zone “When you come to WAFU A, WAFU B, COSAFA, CECAFA and the other zones, we will need at least a known hospital that can be adopted as a CAF Medical Centre of Excellence dedicated to football medical-related matters.”
Reflecting on the meeting, Dr. Pambo said it was a good opportunity to bring his experience to bear, especially in anti-doping and sports cardiology. He also praised CAF 2nd Vice President and President of the Ghana Football Association Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku for his contribution: “Our president, Kurt Okraku, demonstrated a lot of knowledge in the area of player health with his opening remarks when standing in for Dr. Patrice Motsepe.
The summary of the meeting was that player health is equated to team success, and this is what we preached.”
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