Durban - The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said health-care support preparations for the 2023 Comrades Marathon were at an advanced stage.
This year’s race is the second consecutive down run from the Pietermaritzburg City Hall to Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, on Sunday, June 11.
In a joint statement with Netcare and Netcare 911, CMA said Netcare 911 would provide medical assistance to runners at strategic positions along the race route and at the particularly gruelling final stretch up to the finish line.
The association said doctors, paramedics, nurses and volunteers from various organisations, including the Netcare Group, were teaming up as part of the co-ordinated medical management efforts behind the scenes.
Mande Toubkin, Netcare’s general manager of emergency, trauma, transplant and corporate social investment, said Netcare had been a medical partner to the Comrades Marathon for the past 22 years.
“This celebrated race requires a medical team from all over South Africa to provide for the wide-ranging medical needs of the thousands of runners putting their fitness and endurance to the test,” she said.
Shalen Ramduth, the operations director of Netcare 911, said they would be providing 156 health-care workers and 35 emergency vehicles, including helicopter emergency medical services.
By numbers, Netcare is deploying:
- 63 nurses from Netcare
- 32 ambulance staff
- 8 advanced life support rapid response vehicle paramedics
- 11 joint operations centre staff
- 8 stadium paramedics
- 8 support staff
- 4 motorcycles with EMS practitioners
- 3 members of the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS)
- 2 advanced life support practitioners at the finish line
- 2 IT staff
The association said that for the past 43 years CMA race doctor Dr Jeremy Boulter had been in charge of co-ordinating the association's extensive provisions for the medical, emergency, first aid and physiotherapy needs of runners.
“We start working a year in advance for the next year’s race. This year, there are 17 920 entries and the sheer scale of the event requires careful logistics, planning and team work of the Comrades Marathon Medical Facility, which has been described as the largest temporary medical facility outside of a conflict zone anywhere in the world,” he said.
The Comrades Finish Medical Facility had been a feature of the Comrades Marathon since 1977, and now also included a Netcare pre-hospital intensive care unit, it said.
“This year the medical team will comprise 10 emergency medicine specialists, 25 emergency medicine registrars from the University of the Witwatersrand and UKZN Medical faculties, doctors from the private sector, about 75 Netcare and other nurses, and roughly 25 general assistants.
“We will also have a mini laboratory to enable us to perform essential blood tests, provided by Ampath laboratories, as well as Netcare 911 emergency medical practitioners, physiotherapists and volunteers,” said Boulter.
The CMA said Netcare 911, Netcare, and the Comrades medical team were fully prepared to assist participants in every eventuality, whether it was a life-threatening emergency or simply a strained muscle.
“These resources are specifically dedicated to the event, and Netcare 911’s regular emergency medical services remain available for any other requests for assistance from the public via 082 911, as always,” Ramduth added.
Toubkin said that the runners could rely on the teamwork, expertise and solid Comrades spirit of the health-care team working behind the scenes.
“On behalf of the Netcare Group, we wish all participants a safe and solid run, and encourage them to keep hydrated at the refreshment stands along the route,” said Toubkin.
Last year, two runners died, 82 were treated in hospital; of those, 28 were referred from the medical facility at the finish, 19 were admitted to hospital and seven to ICU.