Games board, DOH sign agreement on free medical exams for pro boxers

The Games and Amusements Board and the Department of Health on Tuesday signed a memorandum of agreement to provide free medical examinations to professional boxers in select government hospitals across the country.

Further services such as eye examinations, neurologic clearance, and HIV and Hepatitis C screenings will be provided to professional boxers slated to have World Championship fights.

Within the next 30 days, both agencies must form a joint committee that will draw up the guidelines for the implementation of the agreement.

Prior to this, GAB medical officer Dr. Radentor Viernes said in an email to GMA News Online, there was no agreement between the DOH and GAB to provide free care to boxers registered as professional with the board.

"It is only now that we had the agreement with the DOH for coverage of not only CTScan but all medical requirements a professional boxer needs in the practice of his profession," Viernes said.

According to the GAB's 2013 annual accomplishment report, released on February 20, 2014, an attempt was made to provide professional boxers free brain scanning following the death of a boxer in 2012.

"This initiative is part of the GAB’s mandate to ensure the safety of our boxers by minimizing or eliminating the risks of suffering serious injuries and even deaths, and to encourage more participation of professional boxers," the report read.

Viernes said the project did not materialize as they could not find a possible source of funding for the service.

"Realizing the financial burden this will entail our professional boxers, we initially sought the help of DOH for subsidy on the CT Scan requirement. However, after months of dialogue, looking for the source of funding was a problem so it did not materialize," he explained.

The GAB amended its rules and regulations regarding professional boxing in the Philippines on February 22 this year, including the medical requirements for professional boxers, medical requirements for boxers to fight abroad, and the rest periods or interval between contests.

Stricter medical testing procedures were imposed in the previous years due to numerous deaths from injuries sustained in professional boxing fights in previous years.

On Tuesday, GAB revealed that 150 professional boxers out of 1,054 in the country have been banned for falsifying brain scan results. — BM, GMA News