Anurag Thakur launches app to curb ‘over the counter’ doping

While both NADA and WADA display a list of banned performance enhancing substances on their respective websites, the app allows athletes to search medications by brand name.

Anurag Singh Thakur, Union minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. | Photo Credit: PTI Photo/Kamal Singh

Furthering the fight against potential ‘over the counter’ doping in Indian sports, a new mobile app launched by Indian Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) on Thursday will allow Indian athletes to check medication and their ingredients for banned substances. The app – KYM: Know Your Medicine -- which is available for download in English and Hindi allows Indian athletes to directly check whether medicines they are prescribed for consuming includes substances which are on the WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) prohibited list.

While both NADA and WADA display a list of banned performance enhancing substances on their respective websites, the app allows athletes to search medications by brand name.

“There have been cases in the past where athletes have consumed brand name medications, often on prescription by a doctor, without knowing whether the ingredients in them were banned or not. When they eventually fail a dope test this is one of the common excuses that they provide in front of antidope appeal panels which determine the extent of their punishment,” says Dr. PSM Chandran, former director of sports science at the Sports Authority of India who is himself a member of the NADA antidoping appeal panel.

The app as seen on the Google Play Store in Android devices.

The app, feels Dr. Chandran, should make a common excuse that athletes were unaware of the constituents of their medication a thing of the past. “A lot of athletes are from rural and tribal areas. They might not have a lot of knowledge. But there are also doctors who don’t know whether a medication that they prescribed contains banned substances or not because they are not antidoping experts. They give the best medication that they are aware of to treat medical issues,” he says.

Dr. Chandran says there have been cases in the past where such an app would have been helpful. “There was an instance two decades ago when a very high profile badminton player failed a dope test after taking (‘over the counter’ cough and cold medication) D’Cold Total which contained Phenylpropanolamine which at the time was banned by WADA. Through the app, you won’t have to depend on just what the doctor is saying,” says Chandran.

Dr. Chandran though admits that the app wouldn’t eliminate doping altogether. “The app will have to be constantly updated because there will be new medications entering the market and new substances may enter or be removed from the banned list. Further, the problem of inadvertent doping through over the counter medication is one part of the doping problem. There are also athletes who very knowingly take banned substances. The vast majority of doping in India isn’t due to ‘over the counter’ substances. However, this is still a step in the right direction,” he says.