Institute of Sports Medicine gets new Director General

By Cheranka Mendis

The Institute of Sports Medicine aims at becoming a centre of excellence in the long run with facilities and services on par with other such institutions in Asia.

The newly appointed Director General of the Institute Prof. Arjuna De Silva yesterday stated that he would work towards achieving the long term plan of making the Institute a centre of excellence which would house the latest technological advancements and facilities.

Assuming his duties at the Institute, De Silva stated that even though the financial aspect of realising the plan would be a challenge, he hopes to start by regularising the functions of the Institution.

Hoping to make the Institute of Sports Medicine a supreme medical institute in Sri Lanka De Silva hopes to round up a proper team of specialists to treat the local sportsmen, he said. “I want to structure it right. We will world closely with other professional health related institutions to form a proper team of specialists to treat our sportsmen. To treat the best we must have the best team of specialists.”

Speaking on unqualified persons acting as doctors in the field he said, “I say this with responsibility. If there are such unqualified or under qualified doctors practicing they will have to get ready to pack their bags and go home. I will not encourage such behaviour.”

De Silva is a Professor in Medicine at the Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at University of Kelaniya. He also acts as consultant physician and trainer in gastroenterology and is a council member at the National Institute of Education.

He received his Post graduate degree from the Oxford University.

The new DG also stated that measures will be put in place to implement and speed up the process in setting up 25 district medical units. Planning according to the Mahinda Chinthana, he stated that the proper technologies need to be dispersed to the rural outskirts so that the sportspersons in the villages too could have the best medical facilities. “The short term plan is to make available proper sports medicine to a wide community.”

Speaking on the increasing cases of local sportsmen using banned substance, he acknowledged that the Institution will not stand to back any such incidents in the future. He stated that he fully intends to carry out the regulations set forth by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

He stated that most often the case is that local sportsmen especially those who come from rural Sri Lanka have no knowledge on the banned substances. The ‘prohibited list’ as it is called is annual updated and often Sri Lankan sportsmen are unaware of the changes, De Silva said.

“Some people do it without knowing. Certain cough syrups etc. also contain substances that are in the prohibited list. One of our key areas is to educate the locals on this and create proper awareness on what they should keep away from,” he said. The list will be soon available on the Institution website he said. Seminars will also be conducted throughout the year to educate the community.

De Silva stated that he intends to establish a special anti-doping treatment unit which will be act as an independent body. He stated that he has already received the support from the Minister of Sports, Mahindananda Aluthgamage in this regard.

On using banned substance on a school level, De Silva stated that parents should play a more active role in finding out what the trainers are recommending for the children and if caught, trainers should be suspended or removed from office officially, he said. The Institution will in the future take steps to put into practice school level checking on anti-doping substances, he said.