PORT OF SPAIN, CMC – Compliance with the world anti-doping code will be high on the agenda of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADO) with education, testing, and training a critical part of the focus.
This is one of the developments coming out of the Caribbean RADO annual general meeting staged from May 6 to 7 in the Trinidad capital of Port of Spain.
Chairman of Caribbean RADO, Patrick Werleman said priority will be given to the upcoming world anti-doping code compliance questionnaire, which assesses how well code signatories have implemented international standards.
“We are going to give our member countries as much support as we can in order for them to complete this questionnaire,” Werleman said. “It’s going to be a long process with some potential corrective actions coming from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
“However, we will help them throughout this process. We don’t want any of our member countries to be deemed non-compliant.”
Werleman added Caribbean RADO will spend the next six months making sure that member countries do all that is needed to comply with the anti-doping standards and to improve in several areas.
“Our member countries need to conduct education programmes and awareness sessions at the local level, in addition to doing comprehensive testing,” he said. “We have already recertified our existing doping control officers (DCOs); and have started the process of securing training for new DCOs.
“We always ensure that our regional sample collection personnel can continue to function at the highest levels. We now want to increase the number of DCOs we have participating in major international events such as the Olympic Games and Pan American Games.”
Werleman said one of the main hurdles facing anti-doping programmes in the Caribbean was human and financial resources.
“We need to look for ways to increase our revenue,” he said. “Although we are a not-for-profit organisation, we definitely need to generate as much income as we possibly can. Although it is difficult, we are still maximising the limited resources we have to the benefit of our member countries. However, we are working to improve in this area.”
Werleman said this lack of resources impacted heavily on the smaller nations in the group because of the extensive requirements set by international organisations, but the Caribbean RADO chairman said increased engagement with regional governments was one way to boost resources in member countries.
