National Sports Clinic Commissioned

Feb 24, 2015 Sports

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The Disability & Rehabilitation Services, Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Office of the President formally opened the National Sports Clinic at the Castellani Pool House on Thursday last.
The Feature Address will be done by H.E. President Donald Ramotar with remarks from Dr Bheri Ramsaran, Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Director of Rehabilitation Services Ms. Debita Harripersaud.
The establishment of the National Sports Clinic will provide the professional guidance athletes and coaches need to help athletes achieve fitness and expediently recover from injuries. This facility will holistically and comprehensively cater for the sports medicine needs of sportsmen and women nationally with a vision of functioning as a Sports Rehabilitation Centre of Excellence in the Caribbean.
During her address, Ms. Debita Harripersaud, Director Rehab. Services Ministry of Health noted that; “It is with great pleasure and pride that I stand before you all today to launch the National Sports Clinic here at Castellani. Not so long ago, the Ministry of Health thru the Division of Disability and rehabilitation services engaged officials from Office of the President specifically HE president Donald Ramotar and the Permanent Secretary Omar Sharif in utilizing the facilities here.  As some would say the rest is history, sparks flew (good sparks), wheels started to turn. An immediate acknowledgement into the merit and justification for such a facility was evident; it would be the beginning of a great collaboration.”
Ms. Harripersaud noted the history of the facility, “During the 1970’s the Ministry of Health established a Sports Clinic at the Castellani House which came complete with a pool and sauna facilities.  The clinic provided sports medicine services for athletes of various sporting disciplines and had the notable distinction of being among the first of such clinic to be established in the English speaking Caribbean. The clinic was managed by professional Physiotherapists on a rotational basis. It would be remiss of me, however, if I did not acknowledge the sterling if not golden efforts of our veteran Physiotherapist, a stalwart in Rehab services who played an integral role in the start up and management of the clinic…..Ms Geraldine Maison Halls. Unfortunately, in the early 1990’s this facility closed due to shortage of professional staff to manage the clinic.”
She further informed that, “To facilitate the sportsmen, a reduced service was offered twice weekly at the Physiotherapy Department, Georgetown Public Hospital, However, with this system athletes were required to enroll in the regular out-patient clinic to receive treatment, which resulted in lengthy delays for the athletes. Due to the large patient load at the hospital, it became quite a challenge to afford priority attention to the athletes in the face of serious debilitating medical conditions: to date some of these challenges still exists and in this regard the re establishment of the national Sports clinic is both timely and necessary.”
“It is clear that the changing competitive environment as it relates to sports have implications for the provision of sports medicine services.  More young persons are involved in competitive sports at the national and international levels.  Guyanese who are disabled participate at the Special Olympics, Hence, the need for a holistic approach in the provision of sports medicine that will fit into the overall development plan of sports in Guyana,” she informed.
“With the re-establishment of the National Sports Clinic the main beneficiaries will be athletes from the various sporting fraternities. This clinic will provide the professional guidance and advice athletes, coaches and other individuals involved with sporting teams need in achieving and enhancing fitness as well as to expediently recover from injuries. It will offer an effective and integrative service with a professional, qualified technical staff that includes Physiotherapist, rehabilitation assistants, athletic trainers and consulting sports nutritionist and Orthropods. Castellani is also strategically equipped to offer hydrotherapy as a main adjunct to comprehensive rehabilitative care. The overall management of the national sports Clinic will be spearheaded by our very own expert in the field of sports medicine, Ms Beverly Nelson. For those of you who do not know this highly skilled individual, she has in excess of 25 years of experience in rehabilitation and significantly, is only one of 2 specialist sports physiotherapist in Guyana,” she stated.

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