SAFA’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Thulani Ngwenya has described the recently ended CAF Medical Congress that took place in the Egyptian capital of Cairo as ‘a massive eye-opener for the African continent.
The Congress which ran from 14-16 October 2016, was attended by 52 medical doctors from African federations. Also in attendance were among others FIFA, UEFA, Asia and American Confederations’ Medical Executives.
“This Congress was massive and helped in putting a number of issues into perspective. We discussed a number of pressing issues affecting football on the African continent and the way forward,” said Dr Ngwenya.
Dr Ngwenya said top of the discussion was the sudden cardiac arrest among players and how the medical personnel should go about curbing the loss of life on players during matches.
Another point which was discussed at length was the age determination of the u17 age group which has become a topical issue on the continent with a number of federations accused of age cheating within that age group’s tournaments.
“Then there was the issue of gender verification matter. We also dissected this matter and came up with a number of solutions.”Dr Ngwenya added that nutrition was also brought onto the fore as it was vital for good and sustainable performance by an athlete.