Hon’ble Minister of State (I/C) Youth Affairs and Sports – Shri Kiren Rijiju has launched a first-of-its-kind initiative by the ministry called Central Athlete Injury Management System (CAIMS), to provide efficient sports medicine and rehabilitation support to the athletes. The core committee of the initiative includes distinguished top-of-the-line experts such as Dinshaw Pardiwala, Shrikant Iyengar, SKS Marya and Dinshaw Pardiwala.
The CAIMS focuses to provide the finest best sports injury management support closest to the geographical location of the athlete. It will assist to standardize appropriate injury treatment protocol for athletes nationwide.
The initiative will begin with providing support to the athletes who are a part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) development group expected to participate in the Olympics 2024.
Praising the commencement of CAIMS, Shri Kiren Rijiju said, “It was long desired by everyone to have a Centralised Athlete Injury Management system in our country.”
He added, “I have seen sometimes that even for common injuries, treatment is not done in time which has led to affecting the career of the athlete. Today is a very humble beginning but this will lead to a system where we will have a very professional way of management in the entire handling of the injury of the athlete.”
Commenting on the importance of the initiative, Ravi Mital, Secretary (Sports) said, “Sports has become very competitive and when our athletes compete to their maximum to win medals they sometimes get injured. It is imperative to treat these injuries at a right time and in the right way to ensure that our athletes are in the best of health and form.”
The CAIMS has four structures, namely Athlete Wellness Cell, On-Field Sports Medicine Experts, National Resource Referral Teams and a Central Core Team. Furthermore, SKS Marya is the Chairman of the Central Core Team.
SKS Marya, Chairman of the Central Core Team said, “CAIMS will go a long way towards overcoming the geographical barriers in treating athlete injuries. India is a huge country and our aim is to reduce the geographical and administrative barriers in the management of injuries of athletes.”
Narinder Dhruv Batra, President of Indian Olympic Association said, “This is a welcome initiative by the Ministry to develop an injury surveillance system in the form of an Athlete Wellness Cell for the developmental group of TOPS.”
By Mohit Edupuganti
