"Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala who has operated upon several Olympians… has been named chief medical officer (CMO) for Team India by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). He will be responsible for the health and wellbeing of Indian athletes” at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024, it was reported on the website olympics.com.
"I have been working closely with the IOA and the Sports Authority of India since 2008 in helping injured athletes to return to sport. Many of the athletes I have treated in the recent past and who are medal hopefuls felt that my presence at the games would be beneficial towards their performance. Based on the inputs of these athletes, the IOA requested me to accept this responsibility,” said Pardiwala when responding to queries from Parsiana.
Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala
For Pardiwala, who heads the Centre for Sports Medicine at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hosptal and is director of its Arthroscopy and Shoulder Service, the honorary position of CMO "comes with great responsibility. Sporting careers and life-changing Olympic medals can be won or lost based on how well an injured athlete is managed.” Of the 66 Indian medalists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he is credited with having operated on 12 for their sports injuries.
Known to be busy with surgery from early morning to late afternoon and thereafter with outpatient department consultations until midnight, by the time he had replied to our queries and sent us the requested images it was 1.30 a.m. on April 8. "There will always be challenges with time management, but where there is a will, there is a way,” remarked the surgeon appreciating that "Kokilaben Hospital has been most supportive in my accepting this honorary position for my duties as CMO commence with immediate effect.
There is a lot of preparation that is required from the medical side prior to the actual games. Besides, prevention is always better than cure, and this process of injury prevention and fitness needs to start much before the actual games.”
For the 2024 Olympics, "the Indian contingent will have a comprehensive medical team. This includes not only sports orthopedics and injury management, but also a primary sports care physician, physiotherapists, nutritionists, mental conditioning and strength conditioning coaches. Our main aim is to make sure that each athlete who has achieved Olympic qualification is at his or her fittest during the games. Since we have a large contingent involving multiple disciplines this year, we have a lot of athletes at different locations to deal with.”
Following the announcement concerning Pardiwala and other team officials, IOA president P. T. Usha had commented, "Their expertise, dedication and passion for sports will undoubtedly inspire our athletes to achieve their best and make the nation proud.”
Numerous Indian cricketers and top kabaddi athletes have benefitted from Pardiwala’s treatment. Besides being India’s representative on the International Cricket Council Medical Committee, he is the board physician for many Indian sports teams. The specialist is a committee member of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, and is on the board of Asia-Pacific Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine Society. He is also an active member of Indian Arthroscopy Association, and Shoulder and Elbow Society of India. Taking a keen interest in research and education in sports injuries, he has been on the editorial board of leading arthroscopy journals and is the recipient of numerous prestigious international and national awards in his field of specialization, as notes the introduction to the doctor on the website of Kokilaben Hospital.