Mandatory medicals will cut football fatalities – Dr Engmann

Dr. Martin Engmann

The head of Ghana FA's medical team, Dr. Martin Engmann believes making medical examinations a mandatory requirement of player engagements from next season will help check the rising death toll of players on the pitch in the country.

Martin Engmann will chair a one-day FIFA sponsored seminar for club medics and physiotherapists in the coming days.

In an interview with Joy Sports' Nathaniel Attoh, Dr Engmann explained that the seminar will also be used to collect data on common injuries sustained by players in the local league.

“We are responding to initiatives from FIFA that we need to build our database on player injuries in our game particularly in Africa and Asia. The current data on player injuries has come from Europe and North America,” he said.

According Dr Engmann the programme will run concurrently in Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria and Qatar.

Ghana has its fair share of fatalities on the pitch. One of them was the 19-year-old Kessben FC player Bartholomew Owusu who met his untimely death after collapsing on the pitch in a game against Liberty Professionals.

Another tragedy occurred on the pitch at the Tema Stadium when a player collapsed and died in a second division match early on this year.

Story by Nathaniel Attoh/Joy Sports/Ghana