European Tour Chief Medical Officer Dr Andrew Murray talks about working with MediClinic in the UAE as part of the key Health Strategy to stage the first events of the year.
When the European Tour restarted professional golf tournaments last July following a four month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new strict health protocols were put in place.
Each event became governed by the Health Strategy, which was developed by European Tour Chief Medical Officer Dr Andrew Murray in consultation with Cignpost and advisers across the countries in which the Tour plays. The tour’s medical advisory board includes virologists, public health experts, immunologists, and senior health leaders from FIFA, World Rugby and the ATP.
This Health Strategy has continued into the 2021 season as the pandemic continues to have a global affect, and it has become a way of life on the European Tour to follow guidelines set out by each country, while also employing the help of advisors in those places.
For tournaments in the Middle East, the European Tour works alongside MediClinic, who are a diversified international private healthcare services group that have partnered the Tour for many years.
Ahead of the new season restarting in Abu Dhabi this week, we spoke to both Dr Andrew Murray and MediClinic about the protocols required to be put in place in order for a tournament to go ahead.
How have things changed on the European Tour in the last year?
“2020 was a very different year,” explained Dr Murray. “I think we started thinking that we’d be supporting our golfers with their health and performance, and we did, but in a very different way. We had to respond to the COVID pandemic, and we still are."
What measures are in place?
“It’s still the same measures that work,” Dr Murray continued. “So what we have to do is look at social distancing, to look at the use of masks, at the use of hand sanitiser.
“All of our players have to complete our checklist to make sure they don’t have symptoms, to make sure they haven’t had contact with people with COVID. They’ll have a test 72 hours prior to travel, and of course we ask them to be extremely cautious before travel keeping their distancing and also being uber cautious when they are over here.
“There are certain procedures we advise people do on the flights and when they get here, and once they come on-site they’ll have further PCR testing – and they’ll be subject to all of the usual measures that are so strong in Abu Dhabi.”
What role do MediClinic play out in the Middle East?
“We’re very fortunate in the Middle East to have MediClinic, who have looked after us for many years and look after all of our on-site stuff, and also the testing. That’s been absolutely critical in terms of actually having the ability to get these events over the line and make good decisions, and support our players, staff and caddies as best as we can.
“MediClinic have been great partners to the Tour for many years, and they’ve been great partners in this COVID world, working out what are the challenges we face and how do we solve them together. That’s what you get from their leadership.”
How well have the protocols been received by everyone?
“Our players have been absolutely terrific, this stuff is difficult, but you will see is that they consistently social distance and remind each other, and we use about 5000 squirts of hand sanitiser per day.
“Not everyone is perfect, but I will say that our players, caddies and staff have been absolutely terrific on the whole. We will continue to speak to governments, we’ll continue to speak to health authorities, continue to speak to our players, our caddies and staff, and make decisions based on that.”
How important is setting out clear guidelines?
Dr Alan Kourie, who is the Head of Department of Sports Medicine at MediClinic, explained that getting the right regulations in place are critical to putting events of these nature on.
“People are having to make really hard decisions and put an amazing amount of structures in place in different parts of the world,” he said.
“We’ve been on Teams meeting calls for the last couple of weeks just trying to get all the structures ready for the weeks ahead because you’ve got to be well, well planned from a COVID perspective and know what kind of regulations there are that the different governments have so its critically important for the Tour to have put those things in place so that they are able to host this wonderful event and let all of us fans get to watch.”
What has the experience been like for MediClinic working with the European Tour?
David Hadley, Chief Executive Officer of MediClinic, said the partnership
“First of all its fantastic being out here,” said David Hadley, Chief Executive Officer of MediClinic.
“As MediClinic we’ve always liked to get involved in sports. We’ve set up sports centres all over the world, and here in the UAE we’ve been partnering with the European Tour for many years now.
“It’s important we build these relationships. Healthcare is not just about recovery, it’s about setting the example for people to stay fit, stay healthy, get out there, enjoy the sunshine and enjoy life.
“We are proud to be part of this event, and long may it continue.”
