Make medical cover in league mandatory
What you need to know:
- I would have expected that Matano’s employer, the Kenya Defence Forces would have picked up his medical bills.
- It is my humble request that Ingwe supporters will find it within their hearts to come to Matano’s aid given his long association with the club.
- Cases of players being forced to quit football due to nagging injuries suffered on the field of play are all too common in this country.
I must salute the many Kenyans of goodwill who have gone to their pockets to help offset Ulinzi coach Robert Matano’s medical bills.
The veteran tactician who coached AFC Leopards at some point in his long career has been ailing for a while now and if the reports I’ve read are accurate, is undergoing dialysis – a very expensive affair for majority of Kenyans.
I would have expected that Matano’s employer, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) would have picked up his medical bills. Unfortunately, this has not happened and it now falls on his family, friends and men and women of goodwill to step in.
It is my humble request that Ingwe supporters will find it within their hearts to come to Matano’s aid given his long association with the club. But even as that happens, it is time our clubs invested heavily in the health and fitness of their players and members of the technical bench.
It is unacceptable that majority if not all the clubs in the Kenyan Premier League still lack medical cover in this age. Cases of players being forced to quit football due to nagging injuries suffered on the field of play are all too common in this country.
NAGGING INJURY
We all remember the case of Solomon Nasio who almost called time on his career because of a nagging injury before wellwishers stepped in and assisted him to get medical attention.
Just like in the case of Matano, Nasio’s employer then did not find it their business to ensure he got the required medical attention.
Not too long ago, then Gor Mahia assistant coach and Kenyan legend John “Bobby” Ogolla was admitted in hospital for weeks and it took Kenyans of goodwill to again clear part of his medical bills.
I found it very strange that during the recent campaigns for Ingwe leadership, no candidate ever talked about securing a medical cover for the players and the technical bench. I do not understand why Ingwe, with the second most lucrative sponsorship in the Kenya Premier League, find it difficult to invest in a medical cover for the playing unit and the technical bench.
It is the business of all Ingwe supporters, and indeed all football lovers in this country to demand from the leadership of our football clubs that they invest in medical cover for their players and technical bench.
If anything, the Football Kenya Federation and the Kenya Premier League must make it a basic requirement that all clubs in the country have in place medical covers for their players and coaches before they are allowed to take part in the various leagues in this country.
Meanwhile, let’s come to the rescue of Matano, 57. He is one of us.
