Jakarta, 30 April 2025
Athletes may have a disease or condition that requires them to take medication or undergo a procedure. If the drug or method that an athlete must use to treat the disease or condition is prohibited under the WADA Prohibited List, a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) may authorize the athlete to use the substance or method during competition without incurring an anti-doping rule violation and applicable sanctions. However, under WADA rules, the following four criteria must be met: (1) The athlete has a clearly diagnosed medical condition that requires treatment with the prohibited substance or method; (2) The therapeutic use of the substance would not, on the balance of probabilities, result in a significant improvement in performance beyond the athlete’s normal state of health; (3) The prohibited substance or method is an indicated treatment for the medical condition, and there are no reasonably permissible therapeutic alternatives; and (4) The need to use the substance or method is not a consequence of previous use (without a TUE) of a prohibited substance or method at the time of use.
Although IADO has actually been quite intensive in providing education, socialization and assistance regarding TUE knowledge to dozens of doctors and medical personnel from various National Federations and also KONI (National Sports Committee of Indonesia) from various regions, the reality is that understanding of TUE is not yet fully proportional. These have been indicated by the tendency for certain doctors and medical personnel who always accompany athletes to not have a deep understanding of TUE. As a consequence, the IADO TUE Committee often receives TUE applications from athletes they accompany (because applications must be made through their doctors) which are like going to the wrong address, because they do not meet the 4 criteria above and as a result some of them are forced to be returned by the TUE Committee. On that basis, the TUE Committee led by Dr. Arie Sutopo on April 30th, 2025 at the IADO’s office received consultations from several national federations doctors who wanted to learn more about TUE.