In May, doctors at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopedics in an eight-hour operation, transplanting tissue from the back, literally saved the leg of Nigerian footballer Miracle Nvaoris after a severe open fracture on the field.
The athlete not only fixed the broken bones, but also transplanted the soft tissue levers with bleeding from another part of the body to cover a wide range of soft tissue damage. If the operation is not performed as soon as possible, a large part of the leg may have to be amputated, doctors explained.
While undergoing the operation, the hospital had received a letter of guarantee from the football club “Noah Jūrmala”, which the athlete represented at the time of the accident.
Uģis Zariņš, the chief doctor of the Traumatology and Orthopedics Hospital, feels surprised that a foreigner can work in Latvia without any legal connection with a work permit or insurance-guaranteed health care financing.
The Latvian Football Federation (LFF) states that the athlete was insured at the time of the game. The Premier League rules require teams to present copies of their players’ insurance policies when applying for the tournament.
However, the injured Nvaoris was not insured by “Noah Jūrmala”, which the footballer represented at the time of the accident, but by the football club “Spartaks Jūrmala”, which has a contract with the footballer and which rents out his athlete, the program reported.
Edgars Gauračs, General Director of Spartaka, said that insurers would pay for the injury only if Noah Jūrmala paid the hospital bill. But “Noah Jūrmala”, whose manager Aleksandrs Jakubovskis did not answer the calls on Wednesday, owes many.
Even after the athlete was injured due to violations, including suspected manipulation of the results of the games, “Noah Jūrmala” has been excluded from both the Premier League and the LFF.
“There is a whole series of violations and a number of debts not only to such an institution, but also to the players, to other members, and the club has been excluded from the Premier League for a long time and from the LFF membership list,” LFF Secretary General Edgar Pukinsks said.
While “Noah Jūrmala” is sinking into debt, there is still no answer as to who will cover the debt of 5286 euros to the hospital and how to avoid such a situation in the future.
The Ministry of Education and Science (MES), which is responsible for the sports sector, points out that the employment of foreigners is a matter for the Latvian Investment and Development Agency, which in turn points out that MES should be asked and the Ministry of Welfare may be consulted. The specific situation is not monitored by the State Labor Inspectorate if an employment contract is not concluded, nor by the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, the program reported.
Zariņš, the chief doctor of the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopedics, calls on the involved bodies to settle the situation within the limits of their competence, so that there will be no more such cases in the future.
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