Health facilities in Nigeria and around the world have been overstretched due to COVID-19 pandemic so much so that stadia have turned to emergency hospitals to cater for the growing number of isolated patients. OLALEKAN OKUSAN writes on this emerging trend in the bid to stem the spread of Coronavirus around the globe
THEY are vast, glitzy arenas known for free flow of partisan excitement and impassioned rancour by sport fans but this is no longer the case as the world has virtually been brought down to its knees following the outbreak of Coronavirus epidemic.
Who would have thought – say in January – that these hollowed pavilions dedicated to play and larking around by healthy sportsmen and sportswomen would today turn to silent, solemn spaces repurposed as treatment theatres for the sick and the infirm in their hundreds and thousands?
However, such is the use to which many sports stadia around the world are being put to as nations across the globe grapple with the spread of COVID-19.
With number of stricken individuals than available bed spaces in conventional hospitals, government was left with no choice but to seek larger spaces to accommodate the growing numbers of patients laid low by Coronavirus.
Consequently, President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly approved the use of four federal government-owned stadia (in addition to National Youth Service Corps, NYSC orientation camps) as isolation centres.
The stadiums are the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos; Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan; MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja and Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna.
Putting the presidential directive into action, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, went to work by liaising with the relevant authorities and stakeholders to make the facilities available to health professionals in order to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
In Lagos, clearly the epicentre of the outbreak in Nigeria, the refurbished Mobolaji Johnson Arena (formerly Onikan Stadium) has also been converted to an isolation centre for COVID-19 cases.
The make-shift 110-bed capacity centre was built by the Lagos State government in collaboration with a commercial bank to ease the pressure on the conventional infectious disease centre at Yaba.
Nigeria is not alone in taking this unprecedented step in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Many stadia in Brazil, Spain and Uruguay that have hosted epic football matches in club competitions and even the FIFA World Cup are now famous arenas are field hospitals today with COVID-19 patients fighting for lives on emergency Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds swiftly spread from goalposts to goalposts.
The Santiago Bernabeu and home ground of Real Madrid Football Club, the Centenario in Uruguay and the legendary Maracana Stadium in Brazil are being united as COVID-19 clinical outposts as they have been joined before now by “the Beautiful Game” as they all contribute their part to the fight against COVID-19.
The Madrid venue, which hosted Italy’s 3-1 victory over Germany at Espana ’82, has been made over into a storage and distribution centre for medical materials in a Spain reeling with over 10,000 deaths from COVID-1i, including that of the mother of the Spanish Manager of Manchester City FC, Pep Guardiola.
In Asia, the Athletes’ Village built for Tokyo 2020 Olympics – including flats worth £1.6m – is now being prepared as a coronavirus hospital with capacity to take in 10,000 patients after the Games were delayed by 12 months, according to Tokyo Governor, Yuriko Koike. The complex includes 24 buildings and could eventually house up to 11,000 athletes during the Olympics – which will now run from July 23 to August 8 next year after being postponed due to the pandemic.
In the United States, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, famous for hosting the US Open, has reached an agreement with the New York Government for its indoor training centre to be used as a medical facility. The venue will house a temporary 350-bed facility in response to the pandemic.
Sports pundits wade in
What do sports administrators, coaches and athletes make of this global development?
To be sure, opinions are favourably disposed to it – even if there are post-COVID-19 public health and safety issues thrown into the mix.
Former Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), Kweku Tandoh, observed that stadia were designed and built for multi-purpose use, a feature which readily makes them suitable for almost any activity involving a large number of people, including as hospitals and emergency shelters in times like this.
Tandoh said: “These days, sports facilities are now more aptly called arenas because of their multipurpose use. So in most cases, this multipurpose functionality is taken into consideration while constructing them. For example, Wembley Arena in UK, Allianz Arena in Germany and Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos are built for several uses.
“Many sports facilities all over the world have been used in times of national emergencies. During Hurricane Katrina, many sports facilities in Louisiana were used to accommodate displaced citizens. The Maracana in Brazil, Bernabeu in Spain, Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, amongst others are now being used for Isolation/Treatment Centres for Covid-19.
“In most cases, turf protection is taken into consideration and this is dependent on the type of turf on the playing surface. More protection is required for a natural grass turf and little or no protection is required for a hybrid turf (like the Mobolaji Johnson Arena) in terms of turf recovery after use,” Tandoh added.
Foremost sports journalist Kunle Solaja corroborated Tandoh’s claims saying: “It is not unusual as it is happening all over the world. For instance, a venue used during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London has become an emergency hospital to treat patients with coronavirus. The ExCeL Centre, which played host to seven Olympic and six Paralympic sports at London 2012, is providing accommodation to 4,000 patients. The makeshift field hospital will initially provide around 500 beds with oxygen and ventilators.
“With football in the country suspended until further notice, more than half the clubs in Brazil’s Serie A have given up their stadiums as authorities in densely populated Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro seek to expand hospital capacity to deal with the crisis,” Solaja noted.
Three-time Olympian and Technical Director, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, Chika Chukwumerije, believes it a step in the right direction to use sports facilities in time of emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chukwumerije said: “If that is what it would take to clampdown on the potential spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, why not? Many other countries are deploying this measure so there is a trend. In Spain, Real Madrid is allowing its facility to be used as a storage facility for materials used to combat COVID-19. In Germany, Borussia Dortmund’s Signal-Iduna-Park, which is the biggest stadium in Germany, is being converted to a medical centre to treat COVID-19 patients,” he added.
Famous grassroots sports administrator, Oluseyi Oyebode, believes the trend is global and Nigeria should not be an exception. However, Oyebode expressed concern that Nigeria’s infamous poor maintenance culture might leave the repurposed stadiums in bad, even dangerous, state after COVID-19 has been defeated.
He said: “Over the years, sports enthusiasts have condemned the use of football pitches for social or religious events. The major difference here is the kind of maintenance put in place and the focus of the management which has been a major problem in Nigeria. The stadia may not be the same again due to the poor maintenance culture in Nigeria compared to the European stadia highlighted for the same reasons.”
But Adam Mohammed Mouktar, the amiable chairman of Federal Capital City Football Association (FCTFA), said he was happy with the way sporting edifices are being used as COVID-19 isolation centres
“We are war with an unknown and unseen enemy Covid-19 as such we must deploy all assets and resources available to save lives,” explained the forward-looking football aficionado and administrator.” Stadiums are useful in this time as they are central facilities that are somewhat isolated and have all the necessary support structures to act as makeshift medical facilities to support the fight to save lives.
“This goes to show their (stadia) real value and use in good times for good of the game and in adversity as a life-saving facility for all. I am proud to see football stadiums being there in the nation’s time of need!
“My personal opinion is that life will change forever, we will overcome this! We are humans designed to be intelligent so we will have to adjust to new health measures and ways but it will be the birth of new innovations,” he added.
Meanwhile , a sports medicine expert Adebukola Bajuwoye has advised managements at the stadia currently being used as isolation centres for COVID-19 victims “to ensure that the structures are thoroughly fumigated and everybody adhere to basic health procedures before and after use to avoid further spread of the virus.”
Bajuwoye noted that the arenas, which have become handy in Nigeria and other parts of the world in the battle against COVID-19, would make for effective monitoring of suspected victims.
He stated that COVID-19, which has crippled sporting activities across the world, required concerted efforts to be totally eradicated.
Bajuwoye said: “Using stadiums as isolation centres to treat or quarantine COVID-19 patients is not bad. All we are praying for is for the cure of the virus to be discovered quickly. But to curtail any further eventuality in future, the designated stadiums need to be properly fumigated to remove any trace of the virus in the environment.
“Stadia are public places where large numbers of people turn out for events. The facilities should be adequately managed and supervised to flush out traces of the virus in the arenas after they have served the ad-hoc purpose. Citizens and sportsmen and women should also ensure that they observe all the hygiene procedures in order not to contract COVID-19,” he said.
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