NEW DELHI: Indian Olympic Association president PT Usha has urged the government to step in and start manufacturing anti-doping testing kits in India. The Rajya Sabha MP during her statement in the House said that India should serious consider 'Make in India' initiative.
"I want to draw the urgent attention of this house to a matter that affects the integrity of our athletes and the global image of our nation. The need to promote indigenous production of anti-doping kits under the Make in India initiative to work towards making India a dope-free sporting nation.
"...the menace of doping continues to threaten fairplay, athlete health and our country's reputation on the world stage. At present a significant portion of high quality dope testing kits is imported, resulting in high cost, delay in testing cycles and dependency on external agencies," she said. Usha has been advocating for dope-free sport for a while and has always spoken against doping.
As of now India have been importing sampling kits from Switzerland (Berlinger and LockCon). More than importing the cost of kit is somewhere in the range of $250-$300.
India is bidding to become an Olympic host in 2036 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made it clear that the country will have to considerably improve its current doping record. India ranks poorly in tackling the menace and regularly features in the global top five of dope offenders.
India has already ramped up their testing and has reached more than 7000 in 2024. India also is among top three dope offenders in the world.
The sports ministry has also said NADA has increased its testing capacity considerably and 7751 dope control tests are planned in the current year, a significant increase from the 7474 tests done in 2024 and 5794 tests in 2023.
Usha said having indigenous dope testing kits would be transformative as it would encourage research, manufacturing and technology development, including sample collection devices, and portable detection equipment.
"India can become self-reliant and even emerge as a global supplier of world-class anti-doping solutions. Such an initiative will not only reduce cost but also speed up testing, increase transparency and strengthen the deterrence mechanism across all levels of sports," she said.
"Indigenous kit production will also open new avenue of employment, innovation and scientific research in line with the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat," she added. She said the aim is to have "regular random testing and strict action against violators while ensuring that clean athletes receive full support and protection." "Therefore I urge the government to establish a national programme of indigenous anti-doping kits development under Make in India and support Indian scientific institutions and startups in doping detection technology," she said.
"We should strengthen NADA (National Anti-Doping Agency) and Regional Testing Laboratories with modern equipment and man power and launch a nationwide movement to build a clean transparent and dope-free sporting culture. (PTI Inputs)