SINGAPORE — As 308 Singapore athletes from 25 sports embarked on their quest to bring back medals from the South-east Asian (SEA) Games in Myanmar, a 24-strong medical support team accompanied them with a war chest of medical and physiotherapy supplies and equipment to ensure that they will be in the best of health from the time they land in Naypyidaw to the time they complete their events.

Led by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Ng Chung Sien who was “making his debut” at the regional biennial Games, the team lugged with them over 200 different types of medical and physiotherapy supplies that weigh over 600kg in total.

These include massage and treatment couches, antibiotics, counter-allergy pills, splints, ultra-sound scanners for diagnosis and nutrition supplements such as energy gels and meal replacement packs.

In an interview with TODAY, Dr Ng said his role is to ensure that the support team will be able to cope with worst-case scenarios such as outbreaks of illness (when more than 10 athletes come down with the same symptoms.)

At the last SEA Games in Indonesia in 2011, athletes from at least three countries including 31 Singaporeans came down with diarrhoea after eating food from the Games Village in Jakarta.

That, in turn, adversely affected their performances or caused them to sit out competing altogether.

“Athletes have prepared so long and hard for this tournament, and the biggest risk to poor performance during competition is illness,” said the resident sports physician at Changi General Hospital and visiting physician to the Singapore Sports Council.

“We cannot depend fully on the host country for all of our needs. They are still an under-developed country and their staff and supplies may be stretched to cater for the 6,000 participating athletes from the region.”

Three months ago, the 38-year-old toured the general hospitals at the competition venues of Naypyidaw, Yangon and Pathein, and also spoke to the medical representatives to understand their arrangements.

According to Dr Ng, there are about 80 equipped ambulances located throughout the Games Village at the main competition venue in Naypyidaw.

However, medical facilities are basic, including those at the 150-year-old General Hospital at Yangon.

“We have our own experienced medical staff who can deal with specific injuries related to various sports … This is also on top of each team’s own support crew if any,” said Dr Ng, who has also classified the level of risk of injuries in the various sports as “low” or “high” according to factors such as the amount of physical contact.

This classification will, in turn, help him to decide how much manpower he needs to allocate to each sport during competitions.

Before the Singapore athletes left for Myanmar, Dr Ng also got them to declare whether they are taking any medication or health supplements. This is to guarantee that they do not accidentally fail any doping tests.

At the end of the day, however, Dr Ng stressed that each athlete must take personal responsibility for his or her health.

According to him, the Singapore athletes have been instructed at team manager and athlete briefings last month to exercise food safety.

They have been warned not to eat foods that they are unfamiliar with so as avoid stomach upsets.

They have also been instructed to drink only bottled water and to avoid raw food, pre-prepared salads and sliced fruit.

“Each member of the team (athlete, official, medical & secretariat support) has an individual responsibility to protect their personal health, and the collective responsibility to protect entire health of the Team Singapore contingent,” he said.

Fact box:

Main supplies

Medical:

Eyedrops: 30 bottles

Analgesic tablets: 1600 tablets (of which 380 tabs are Paracetamol)

Vomiting and nausea: 150 tabs

Allergies: 880 tabs

Antibiotics: 900 tabs

Ultracarbon: 200 tabs

Lacteol forte Cap (lactobacillus): 250 sachets

Vitamin C: 310 tabs

Repalyte Oral Electrolytes 8.6gm: 200 sachets

Creams, Ointments, Lotions: 167 tubes

Physio:

Sports tapes (main bulk of items)

Kinesio tapes

Sam Splints for fractures

Cervical collars for neck injuries

First Aid Kits

Massage/ treatment couches

Tubigrips for compression and support

Ice cooler bags

First Aid back pack

Nutrition:

Shelf stable meals: 100 packets

Instant porridge: 100 packets

Supplements

Meal replacements: 100 packets

Sports drink: 2 cartons

Multivitamins: 15 bottles

Energy gel: 48 packets

Electrolytes: 20 boxes

Probiotics: 26 boxes

Sports bars: 3 cartons