November 3 – The North Macedonian FA (FFM) have boosted their medical support to teams with the provision of defibrillators to all 16 clubs in Macedonia’s second division. Last year, similar donations were made to clubs in the Macedonian first division.
Following UEFA’s initiative to improve medical awareness and equipment across the confederation with incidents of heart related illnesses having increased in football, the Macedonians have taken steps to improve the medical competency and facilities.
“All the medical teams of the clubs followed educational programs on resuscitation and the use of defibrillators among doctors, coaches and players. A heart attack is perhaps one of the leading causes of death in football players on the field, and regular heart examinations and appropriate first aid measures (such as immediate resuscitation and use of a defibrillator) can help prevent death from heart problems”, said the FFM in a statement.
“… For us, it is also very important that, apart from the donation of medical equipment, as a body in the federation that takes care of health and medicine, we continuously maintain the education of the physiotherapists and doctors engaged in the clubs and in the representative teams. This year we also held the important seminar for the licensing of doctors and physiotherapists in the MFL under the auspices of UEFA”, said Dr. Nevzat Jonuzi, FFM chairman of the Commission for Medicine and Anti-Doping.
“We know that a sudden heart attack can happen anywhere, even on football fields, and that is why we think it is necessary for the teams to be supplied with the necessary automatic defibrillators. In addition, our federation provided training on resuscitation and emergency intervention using the donated defibrillators to the persons in charge of medical assistance in the clubs. In the future, we will continue in that direction, to be a better service to the clubs from a medical point of view, and our next intention is to procure medical bags equipped with medicines according to UEFA medical standards for all MFL participants”, he added.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1734931577labto1734931577ofdlr1734931577owedi1734931577sni@o1734931577fni1734931577