Doctor failed to warn Aparna Popat

pune: the international badminton federation (ibf)-appointed medical official for the thomas and uber cup preliminaries did not have a list of prohibited drugs, nor did he warn aparna popat about the medicine she had been taking. popat, a member of the indian badminton team was banned from participating for three months after the medication she had taken for a cold was found to have contained a banned substance.speaking to pune times, sunder shetty, who was manager of the indian women's team, said that popat had submitted to the doctor the list of medicines she was taking for her cold, well in advance. the medical official, he said, should have informed popat that the medicine contained a banned substance. the ibf had appointed dr gurusharan singh from malaysia as the official medical attendant for the thomas and uber cup preliminaries held in delhi in february. he was assisted by another doctor. shetty said that popat had taken d'cold total as she was suffering from a severe cold. these facts had been declared to all concerned, including the medical panel, prior to her participation in the tournament. "i remember it very well as i was present when aparna was submitting the list of medicines to dr singh. at that time, he told aparna not to consume any cold drinks but never mentioned a word about the banned substance in the tablets," shetty affirmed. learning from experience, officials of the badminton asssociation of india (bai) are now compiling a list of medicines which the players can take when they are playing actively. girish natu, a member of the court officials committee of the bai and an ibf umpire said that as a first step he has sent a copy of the anti-doping statute of the ibf effective from january 1, 2000 to all the concerned officials and players the statute contains a list of all the drugs which are prohibited by the international olympic committee and the ibf. natu also said that he together with former national badminton player dr atul biniwale and dr sunil deodhar, both practising physicians, and a couple of pharmacists would be listing the frequently required medicines for common ailments which fit into the norms of the doping statute. the process of compilation has already started in pune and the list will be ready in a month's time. "since doping is a universal problem, we will send the list of medicines to all the state associations and the indian olympic association," natu added.