Kenya Pharmacist Society of Kenya is seeking a partnership with the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) to end the rampant doping cases that have rocked Kenya’s sports fraternity, especially athletics.
Robert Saina, the clinical pharmacist at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), said there is a need for the two bodies to collaborate to end the menace that is killing sports, especially long-distance runners in the North Rift region. Saina was speaking in Eldoret during the World Pharmacists Day.
“It is a requirement that ADAK should employ pharmacists and as North Rift officials, we are looking forward to having that partnership.
"Remember this region is the source of champions and for us to protect the integrity of our country and athletes, we must have that partnership.
"In that partnership, we will ensure that pharmacists, who are the custodians of medicine, play an advisory role to our sportsmen and women,” said Saina.
He said so far, ADAK has been operating independently as far as athletes' education on doping is concerned.
"Pharmacists are the technical people here and it is a requirement that ADAK must have them on board but they are yet to show that interest.
"They must recruit pharmacists to ensure all the medicines our sportsmen and women take are neither prohibited nor restricted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA),” he said.
He said sometimes athletes are just victims of circumstances because they have no one to advise them.
He said: "An athlete might use cough syrups that contain stimulants and when tested, the results turn out positive. He or she is then disqualified, not because they had the intention but because they are ignorant, which is no defence."
Dr. Dan The Music affirmed that they are late in collaborating with ADAK but discussions are going on.
“Going forward, we are going to have more collaborations with other stakeholders, who are in need of pharmaceutical care services, in this case, the athletes pertaining to drugs.
"We have got the situation where our athletes have gone to other countries to compete and end up being banned due to the doping,” said Music.
He advised athletes to read a booklet, which was prepared specifically for them to avoid endangering their careers.
“We have realized that we don’t have a pharmacist in ADAK.
"There is a booklet that was prepared for the sportsmen and women and I urge all of them to look for the booklet and see the kind of drugs that are forbidden.
"We encourage patients at all times to look for a pharmacist to get quality information.
"We are going to move very fast and secure a meeting with ADAK in a bid to discuss the way forward on how to end this menace once and for once,,” he said.