Dengue hits Lankan athletes at SAF Games; female footballer critical
Thirteen Sri Lankan athletes suffering from dengue were admitted to hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal as the 13th South Asian Games reached its eighth day yesterday.
Sports Medicine specialist and team doctor, Lal Ekanayake, told the Sunday Times that one of the athletes was in critical condition and was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
“This is an unfortunate situation to have 13 of the athletes affected, most of them taking part in track and field events. We are keeping a watch on their platelet counts which are varying from day to day," he said.
Among the athletes hospitalised are sprinter Nadeesha Ramanayake, paddler Bimandi Bandara, athletes M.U. Kumara and S.P.J. Bandara. Women’s footballer Gayathri Nanayakkara was flown down from Pokhara and was admitted to the ICU as her condition was critical. All are being treated at the Blue Cross Hospital, in Tripureshwar near the the Dasarath Stadium.
Yesterday sprinter Amasha de Silva, who won a gold and silver medal on Friday in the Women’s 4x100m Relay and the Women’s 100m events was admitted to hospital after being diagnosed with dengue. In addition three members of the athletic coaching staff have been suspected of being affected by dengue. They had fever yesterday.
“Nepal medical authorities are not quite prepared to treat dengue, because they rarely come across such patients. That’s one of the worries we had,” Dr. Ekanayake said.
After serious discussions between the hospital authorities and the Sri Lanka medical team, the Nepali authorities have made arrangements for the Sri Lankan officials to consult a specialist team led by Fever Hospital Director Dr. Ananda Wijewikrama in Colombo. They will interact via video communications, and the reports of the athletes will be referred before recommending further treatment.
“Usually the medical sector in Nepal is strict and they do not allow outside consultants to intervene. It was a relief for us, as we are hoping to somehow get our athletes back fully recovered. If this happened in Sri Lanka, we could have easily acted promptly, but according to what has taken place, we sincerely hope to release them soon and fly them all back home,” he added. According to Dr. Ekanayake, Sprinter Ramanayake was discharged on Friday evening after her conditions improved and was deemed fully recovered.
Continued from page 1
Paddler Bimandi Bandara has been certified recovered, but is yet to be discharged from the hospital as she is not fully fit to walk alone.
But footballer Nanayakkara’s condition remains to be critical and she is not even in a condition to be flown back to Colombo. By yesterday six out of the 13 athletes were discharged from the hospital.
According to the observations made by Dr. Ekanayake, the athletes had contracted dengue in Colombo and not in Nepal. He said the Sugathadasa Sports Hotel could have been the originating place of dengue as a total of five athletes were detected with the fever when they were housed prior to the South Asian Games.
“I had advised the authorities to properly clean the place and treat it medically before putting in athletes, as the Sugathadasa Sports Hotel had been kept shut for a long period. But no such measures were taken before putting in athletes there. If it was the cause, we failed to nip it in the bud, and our athletes are suffering for our own shortcomings”.
The count of dengue patients may continue to rise, according to Dr. Ekanayake. He revealed that the number of athletes coming in for treatment for fever has risen by yesterday, and that the medical team may have to remain in Kathmandu for a few more days before the entire squad is cleared and fit to fly back home.
Meanwhile, footballer Gayathri Nanayakkara's parents have flown to Kathmandu as her condition remains to be critical. The Sri Lanka medical team is seriously looking into flying back the women's footballer back to Colombo, but they have been advised by the specialist team, not to take any risk.