The National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) has regained the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accreditation. NDTL has been informed by WADA that its accreditation has been restored. With this, NDTL’s Anti-Doping testing and activities will be resumed with immediate effect.
This was announced by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Anurag Thakur in a tweet today. Shri Thakur mentioned in his tweet that the restoration of accreditation is a boost to India’s efforts to achieve the highest global standards of excellence in sport.
The team of officers and staff at NDTL has also worked tirelessly to get the accreditation restored. NDTL’s WADA accreditation was suspended on 20 August 2019, based on non-compliances which were observed during on-site assessment of the Laboratory held in September 2018. WADA, on its part has been providing continuous guidance and support to make NDTL’s processes and methodologies fully compliant with the latest version of International Standard for Laboratories (ISL) and with the WADA Technical Documents, 2021.
Consequently, NDTL has made rapid strides, and now its facilities are fully geared to be at par with the peer-WADA accredited labs across the globe. In its continuous efforts to excel, NDTL has been collaborating with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Guwahati and the CSIR-IIIM Jammu for research in Anti-Doping Science. NDTL has also been collaborating with other WADA accredited laboratories for strengthening its research activities and anti-doping efforts.
Government is also keen to establish and recognize more Dope Testing Laboratories in the country. Such laboratories will strengthen the capability for testing a greater number of samples. considering the sizable population and growing number of sportspersons in the country. These will also facilitate India to host mega sports events in the country.
The National Anti-Doping Bill 2021, introduced in the Parliament on 17 December 2021, is another step in India’s quest to become a sporting powerhouse.