Guardian on the field

The players run hard as they try to get the best result. Dr Chau Chi-wai, the Match Day Doctor (MDD), watches the players’ movements carefully, ready to provide prompt treatment to any injury and assess whether the athlete is fit to stay on the pitch. He is the guardian on the field.

Dr Chau is the Chief of Service of Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He is keen on sports and claimed himself as playful. He is also a member of the Hospital Authority and Kowloon Central Cluster volleyball team. Since he worked on the sidelines of a major rugby match in 2005, he has served as a MDD for a range of international tournaments, including cycling, tennis and badminton, to help the athletes shine.

Bring patient back from the brink

Dr Chau has been working as a MDD for over 10 years. On one of his unforgettable occasions, a rugby player running at high speed ran into a billboard with a whoop. Dr Chau dashed out with his medical bag to treat the collapsed player. “There was silence in the stadium and cameras were flashing at the injured player, the atmosphere was intense and stressful,” he recalls. The player was brought back to consciousness when sending to hospital.

At a local event, a dialysis patient suffered a cardiac arrest after winning a competition. Dr Chau was the MDD and instantly performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and electroshock to bring the patient back from the brink. “It was a thrill, very few people who have lost their heartbeat can come back to life, especially outside hospital.”

Working as a MDD is ‘super challenging’ compared with the onerous A&E duties, Dr Chau explains, as he has to do his best in a short time to treat sportspeople, deciding whether or not they can continue to play without long-term effects. On the field, he draws on his clinical experience of A&E in the treatment, while in A&E, his work as a MDD gives him a better understanding of how to deal with patients injured at sports. “Having seen different kinds of injuries on the field, I know better how to interrogate patients and come up with the best treatment,” he says.

‘Never-say-die’ lessons

It is a bonus for Dr Chau to work as a MDD, as it provides an opportunity for relaxation outside his busy and stressful hospital schedule. “It’s great to have a free seat to watch international matches,” he jokes. He also takes inspiration from the never-say-die attitude of the sportspeople he watches over. “They have taught me to never give up until the last minute, no matter how bad the situation is,” Dr Chau says. “In the end you may win the game on the field, and you may save a life in the hospital.”