As Dr. Béla Merkely, Head of the Medical Committee of the upcoming sports event explained, the medical care background of the 17th FINA World Championships will be provided by 550 physicians and health care professionals. Dr. Béla Merkely, Vice-Rector for Clinical Affairs highlighted that the organization of the medical care background of such an event is a complex task. The 17th FINA World Championships starting on July 14 will take place in five different locations, and participants will have competitions in six different sports. The organizers will also have to provide secure circumstances during the trainings as well.
During the press conference Dr. Béla Merkely, Director of the Heart and Vascular Centre informed the audience that the special training of colleagues and volunteers has finished and the venues have been visited and checked. The work of the medical crew will be supported by medical students as well. Competitions will be held in six different sports at five locations, and the medical care background of further eight training venues will also be provided by the same medical crew. This crew will be the medical care provider during six entire weeks, at the 17th FINA World Championships and afterwards at the Masters World Championships as well.
“The medical care background of sportspersons and the accredited participants will be provided in cooperation with the National Ambulance Service and the Water Rescue Services, the preparations were started almost two years ago. We are planning to take care of the majority of health care issues on site, the institutional background will be provided by Semmelweis University, the major location will be the Korányi Patient Care Building. In Balatonfüred medical care will be provided in cooperation with Csolnoky Ferenc Hospital (Veszprém). At such a large-scale event it is very important to be prepared, to get ready for the most unexpected situations as well, such as suffocation or a sudden cardiac death, but certain major injuries can also happen in case of diving and high-diving.”, expressed Dr. Béla Merkely.
According to Pál Győrfi, spokesperson of the National Ambulance Service, ambulance care plays a major role of the health care responsibilities of FINA World Championships. This is the largest challenge for the National Ambulance Service, therefore they have been preparing for the event for months, they are in strong cooperation with every related organization. As he emphasized, all the rescue plans are prepared, which determine the quality and quantity of ambulance forces that are required at certain programme elements. This will be connected to a well-functioning informatics system, for the sake of which a separate rescue management team will be set up, especially for providing health care on the occasion of the championships. Such a management team will also be set up in Veszprém. Pál Győrfi said that at some point occasionally 26 ambulance units would be present in the different locations.
Mihály Tar, spokesperson of the Water Rescue Services expressed that they would be in service in three different locations: at the open-water championships, at the diving tower and at the swimming contests. A lot of their forces will be actively present in Balatonfüred, where divers, ambulance boats and emergency boats with a medical doctor or a paramedic on board will provide medical support to the participants. There will continuously be a diver in the swimming pool underneath the huge diving tower on the Danube bank, who would be able to provide immediate help for the sportspersons in need. Also, during the swimming contests there will be one-one lifeguard at both ends of the swimming-pool.
During the championships people can inquire for information related to contests and venues at the following hotline number: +36-1-90-70-500.
Tímea Kele
Photo: Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
Translation: Katalin Illés-Romhányi
