Wada report wants Ja to review anti- doping laws
The World Anti- Doping Agency ( WADA) wants Jamaica to review its anti- doping laws as part of a number of recommendations designed to help the country rebound from a doping scandal.
WADA is also recommending an evaluation of the Jamaica AntiDoping Commission ( JADCO’s) governance and management structure, as well as a National Anti- Doping Organisation to work with ( JADCO).
The recommendations are contained in a report compiled by WADA after its two- day inspection visit to Jamaica recently.
Minister with responsibility for sports Natalie Neita- Headley has given WADA the assurance that the Jamaican Government is committed to addressing the deficiencies in her country’s anti- doping programme.
Neita- Headley has also assured WADA that additional budgetary resources will be made available to JADCO and said vacant posts at the commission will soon be filled.
A release from the Office of the Prime Minister in Jamaica has quoted WADA as saying that it is “satisfied that the minister has accepted the practical suggestions made and now looks forward to the full and speedy implementation of the recommendations”.
Neita- Headley, who is in South Africa attending the 4th World Conference on Doping in Sport, met with ( WADA) Director General David Howman Thursday after receiving the WADA report.
“We are working very closely together now to implement them ( the recommendations), and I am very confident that the programme in Jamaica, which suffered a little bit in the past, will return to its robust state,” Howman said.
“The issues have certainly been aired and clarified in the best possible way with the minister.”
The WADA report on Jamaica was scheduled to be examined during yesterday’s final day of the World Conference on Doping in Sport.