Rehab centre or just a gym?

Vinayak Padmadeo

The upcoming Rehabilitation Centre at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, Panchkula, is very dear to Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh. The reason is personal. The former Indian hockey captain, an ace drag-flicker in his heyday, had to undergo a lot of agony and hurt while trying to make a comeback after a freak accident involving a gun left him with a fractured rib and a spine injury in 2006.

Ever since that day, Singh has been vocal about having a world-class facility in the country. The announcement of the Panchkula facility was a step towards leaving a personal imprint in the state, which contributes the maximum number of athletes to India’s cause at the Olympics.

Buoyed by the official announcement of Panchkula facility, which is getting ready to open shortly, Singh announced plans of setting up of four more centres – in Gurugram, Rohtak, Karnal and Sonepat.

While the sports minister is happy, experts from the field have raised question marks over the standard of some of the equipment, which they suggest are obsolete.

Bidding process

But first things first.

A Delhi-based company, Grand Slam Fitness Pvt. Ltd., won the tender to supply, install and set up equipment at the Panchkula rehab centre. The winning bid is worth Rs 9.95 crore, with an additional Rs 33 lakh for Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) for five years.

The said company primarily supplies and installs gyms in the country. Further, there were three companies shortlisted for the final tendering process — Grand Slam, GK Sports and Ahmedabad-based Surgefit (OPC) Private Limited. GK Sports is Grand Slam’s vendor. This is a clear violation of the competitive bidding process as two of the three companies in the bid have business relations.

Trying to find out more, The Tribune sent a detailed questionnaire to Grand Slam via an email asking for explanations about its past experience and the conflict of interest with GK Sports. However, the company did not respond.

‘Unnecessary, obsolete’

The Tribune shared the list of equipment with at least three reputed organisations, including the Inspire Institute of Sports (IIS), which is one of the best high performance training centres in India.

‘Obsolete’, ‘unnecessary’, ‘are they making a gym?’ are a few of the words used by the experts.

IIS’s head of physiotherapy department, Dhananjay Kaushik, went through the entire list and said “it is not the right way to do business”. “It occurs to me that someone went through the internet, asked a few people and came up with this list,” Kaushik told The Tribune.

Kaushik said that some of the equipment listed, including the hamstring testing system on the sale order, was not from the right vendor. Instead, companies like Vald Performance should have been brought in as their equipment gives “more accurate picture of an athlete’s hamstring and imbalance”, he said.

Similarly, he pointed out that equipments like ‘Sit and Reach box’ (which detects the flexibility of the lower back and hamstrings) and ‘Vertical Test Jumper’ (which tests lower body strength) are out of vogue.

“Electrotherapy methods have not been used for over a decade now. We do not use it. The irony is that physiotherapists in India are still being taught old methods which are of no use now,” Kaushik opined.

Another expert, who also heads a prestigious centre, called it a facility with only basic physiotherapy equipment. “I can see orders for 300 mirrors and yoga mats. This is essentially a gym facility. I can’t see any generic certification mentioned as it is standard practice in this field. Besides, some machines are not being used for decades,” the expert, who wished anonymity, said.

‘More than a rehab centre’

Director of Haryana Sports Department, Pankaj Nain, clarified that the Panchkula facility was not enhanced to be only a rehabilitation centre. Rather, it was a combination of strength and conditioning and rehab centre.

“It is wrong to call it just a rehab centre. It is a combination of many things. It is a strength and conditioning and rehab centre and hence we have placed an order for the relevant equipment,” Nain said.

“There is another component to the centre — the staff. We will start hiring professionals for the facility,” the officer added.

When quizzed about the tender process, the IPS officer said his department can merely put a demand and the tendering process was handled by the state government’s supply and disposal department.

“We spoke to the state’s physiotherapists’ association and also to the experts in PGI, Rohtak, about equipment for this facility. Accordingly, a demand was raised,” Nain clarified.