Expat doctor elected as secretary general of Asian body

MUSCAT: Considered to be one of the founders of the sports medicine department in Oman, Muscat-based expert Dr E B S Ramanathan has been elected as the Secretary General of the prestigious Asian Federation of Sports Medicine (AFSM) body for 2023-2026.

Dr Ram Sethu, as he is better known as, was unanimously elected to the post during the AFSM Congress held during the AFSM Council meeting, held in Hong Kong recently. Dr Sethu is the only office-bearer from the Sultanate of Oman and will remain at the post for four years.

Senior consultant

Dr Sethu is currently working as a senior consultant, orthopaedics and sports medicine, Muscat Private Hospital.

Prior to that, he was senior consultant, orthopaedics & head of arthroscopy and sports injuries unit at Khoula Hospital, from August 1987 to November 2013.

He has been largely credited to the setting up of the sports medicine department in the hospital.

Dr Sethu has also been past president of Indian Association of Sports Medicine from 2012-2014.

China’s Prof Minhao Xie has been elected as the president of AFSM. The Asian body is one of the multi-national continental federations under the supervision of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS), which was established in 1928.

AFSM was inaugurated in 1990 at the time of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing. The main objective of the AFSM is to foster the development of sports medicine in Asia for sporting excellence and health for all.

Among the other goals of the AFSM are to help sports organisations, agencies associations federations in organising sports medicine facilities in Asia, to study and prepare medical protocols and documentation outlining all requirements of sports medicine in general, as well as specifically for each and every sport .

The body aims to establish, strengthen and practice medical code in sports and to establish medical ethics in the practice of sports medicine and to campaign against drug abuse in sports, (doping) and implement the anti-doping charter of International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Federation of Sports Medicine and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).