WADA suspends South Africa’s Anti-doping Laboratory

World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) has suspended South Africa’s Bloemfontein Anti-doping Laboratory for six months, effective March 1, 2024 due to multiple non-conformities to meet international standards.

The Bloemfontein Laboratory had already been placed under restrictions in September last year but now has been slapped with the six months suspension until it complies.

Wada said in a statement that the experts had advised the agency to suspend the facility’s accreditation due to “multiple non-compliances with the international standard for laboratories”

Wada said that after relaying the bad news to the Bloemfontein laboratories, they accepted the suspension and would comply with their decision.

“The suspension means that Bloemfontein laboratory cannot conduct any anti-doping activities, including the analysis of urine and blood samples, except analyses related to the haematology module of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP),” said WADA.

This decision of suspending South Africa puts many African countries in problem because they used to use this facility on credit before making payment.