Football: Ikhsan injury dealt with properly

SINGAPORE - Ikhsan Fandi's broken wrist was treated swiftly, and the decision made for him to put off surgery for five days was the correct one.

In response to The New Paper's queries to the Singapore Sports Council (SSC), Dr Lim Yii Hong, who is part of Team Singapore at the Asian Youth Games (AYG) in Nanjing, China, explained why he made the call following Ikhsan's injury.

Dr Lim, who treated Ikhsan in Nanjing, said: "I assessed his injury on-site and in the ambulance, and while surgery may have been necessary, immediate surgery was not needed at that time.

"The recommendation was to bring Ikhsan back to Singapore in the next couple of days for him to be seen by the orthopaedic surgeon for further management and surgery promptly.

"On the day that he was to fly back to Singapore, the swelling had already subsided greatly.

"In fact, for cases where surgery cannot be done immediately as in this case, it may sometimes be better to delay surgery for a few days until the soft tissue swelling has settled or been treated, so that healing will be optimised and certain types of post surgical complications may be avoided."

Ikhsan, the second son of local football icon Fandi Ahmad, hurt himself after falling during the Singapore Under-14s' 2-0 defeat to Kuwait in an AYG clash last Thursday.

A reduction was done on his broken lower left arm within two hours of the incident, and the 14-year-old then underwent surgery on Tuesday, the day after he returned to Singapore with the rest of the squad.

Internal fixation

The Singapore Sports School student underwent an internal fixation (having implants inserted to help guide the healing of the bones) and had three screws inserted into his arm.

Fandi told TNP on Monday that he was upset with the way the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and the SSC had handled his son's injury.

The 51-year-old former Lions captain questioned why Ikhsan was not flown back to Singapore immediately for surgery.

The FAS later explained that Ikhsan wanted to stay with his teammates for the final group game against South Korea on Sunday, even though he was ruled out.

Fandi was also furious that he was not told the full extent of Ikhsan's injury immediately by FAS officials who were with the team in Nanjing.

His wife, Wendy Jacobs, was informed of Ikhsan's injury by an FAS official in Singapore, instead.

It was only two days later that Fandi and Wendy received an X-ray which showed the extent of the injury.

When told of the SSC's explanation, Fandi said he would wait for the report by the specialist here in Singapore, which will be completed within the next few days, before commenting.

As for Ikhsan, Fandi said his son was recovering well after the surgery.

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