German doctors unavailable for SAI lab

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 6. India's hopes of readying itself with a dope control laboratory having a temporary accreditation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) received a blow with German doctors expressing their inability to come here.

Two doctors from an IOC-accredited lab in Kreisha, Germany, were to assist the staff of the SAI laboratory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the Afro-Asian Games, scheduled to be held here from November 3 to 11. Apparently, the German doctors have communicated to the IOC Medical Commission that they would be pre-occupied with an international conference.

In fact, the two German specialists were to arrive here this week to begin their work towards setting up the laboratory. They were also expected to educate and train the staff here for 15 days before returning. The laboratory was to start functioning from mid-October till the end of the Games.

With just two months remaining for the opening of the Games, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the IOC Medical Commission have started a salvage operation to get expertise from elsewhere.

The IOC Medical Director, Dr. Patrick Schamasch, has asked his Asian counterpart, Prof. Yoshio Kuroda, to make the necessary arrangements from the IOC-accredited laboratory in Tokyo. This means that, if the revised plans succeed, the Japanese doctors would be manning the SAI laboratory here during the Games.

The problem started as the SAI laboratory failed to acquire the high-precision machines, worth Rs. 45 lakhs, in time. The German machines, to be imported from Hong Kong, were expected here by the end of August. But due to procedural delays the machines are still lying in Hong Kong. Only on Monday, a letter of indent was issued to the Hong Kong firm.

The IOA came into the picture only on Tuesday when the SAI authorities informed it about the decision of the German doctors. The IOA in turn informed Dr. Schamasch, who used his good offices to impress upon Prof. Kuroda to make the Japanese doctors available for the SAI lab.

In a letter to the IOA Secretary-General, Mr. Randhir Singh, Dr. Schamasch has said that the delay was uncalled for and he feared that time was far too short. ``Anyway, we will find the best solution not to jeopardize the Games,'' he wrote.

The temporary accreditation for the SAI laboratory here depends on India installing the high-quality machines and have the IOC- approved doctors/scientists on the job to man it. The Afro-Asian Games Organising Committee (AAGOC) will have to spend more than Rs. one crore on the purchase of the machines, the fees of the doctors and IOC royalty.

With such exorbitant costs involved in the hiring of the doctors, there is also a school of thought to send urine samples to the nearest IOC-accredited labs. Bangkok and Penang in Malaysia have been identified as possible laboratories where the AAGOC could send urine samples if the situation arose.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Competition hotting up in TNGF Open
Next     : No immediate review of cricketing ties with Pak.