Bhubaneswar: Health Minister Naba Kishore Das Friday inaugurated a sports injury and rehabilitation centre at CARE Hospital here. Former Indian hockey player Dilip Tirkey and former Indian cricketer and national selector Debashish Mohanty besides the top officials of the hospital attended the inaugural ceremony.
The minister said that with the development of sports in the state, the need of such a centre has been long due. “Odisha has developed into a sports hub where national and international sports are organised. This centre is now likely to cater to the needs of the sportspersons in the state,” the minister said.
Tirkey said that for the first time the state capital got a dedicated centre for sports injury. “It was not there in Odisha earlier,” he said.
Veteran cricketer Debashish Mohanty cited his own experience how he had to visit other states for his knee injury. He also said that until now many sportspersons are visiting Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai for such services which started in the state capital today.
The hospital administration said that the department of Sports Injury and Rehabilitation in the hospital is the first of its kind in Odisha and Eastern India.
The department has been envisioned to support elite sports performance, injury prevention and multidisciplinary management through field-to-field care to athletes, early diagnosis, appropriate surgical or non-surgical management and protocol based rehabilitation.
The centre is also likely to help in training the medical staff on injury management and help in research works on the issue.
Group CEO of CARE Hospitals, Jasdeep Singh and Chief operating Officer of CARE Hospitals, Bhubaneswar, Gurrit Kaur Sethi were also present in the inaugural ceremony.