The Board of Control for Cricket in India has renewed retained VPS Healthcare as its healthcare partner for the Indian Premier League, local reports have said.
The cash-rich cricket league had to be moved out of India last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and BCCI chose the UAE-based group as its healthcare partner as the tournament was played in the UAE.
Earlier this year, after the IPL began in India, several players and support staff tested positive for Covid-19, causing the games to screech to a halt.
The remaining games will now be played in the UAE, with VPS Healthcare continuing to provide solutions like setting up, implementing, and monitoring Covid-19 RT-PCR testing for everyone associated with the event.
VPS Healthcare has reportedly made elaborate arrangements in all its hospitals across the Emirates in this regard.
As the official medical partner, the group will be responsible for providing a broad range of services, including emergency medical services, sports medicine support, musculoskeletal imaging, specialist teleconsultation, doctor-on-call, and ambulance/air ambulance support.
It is also said to have set up a 100-member multidisciplinary team for sports medicine and Covid-19 management.
Two medical teams, comprising doctors, nurses, paramedics and lab technicians, will be assigned to each stadium for every match.
Despite having fewer matches in the UAE this year, the rescheduled IPL will see increased Covid-19 testing, said the local reports.
Ahead of the arrival of the players, VPS Healthcare completed testing for over 750 hotel staff across 14 hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
On August 13, it started testing the players of the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings teams.
With the updated protocol requiring players and officials to get tested once every three days, the healthcare provider anticipates over 30,000 PCR tests this year.
To ensure secure bio bubbles, nurses and other medical staff are accommodated in the same 14 hotels as the players till the end of the tournament.