Thaindian News

London, Dec. 9 (ANI): The Canadian doctor, who helped Tiger Woods to overcome his knee surgery using the path-breaking ‘blood-spinning’ technique, will be quizzed in court for allegedly importing and selling illegal drugs. Dr Tony Galea, one of Canada’s most prominent sports injury experts whose clients have included Olympic gold medallists Donovan Bailey and Mark McCoy, was arrested and charged with three counts of illegally selling and importing drugs following a raid on his offices by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in October.

Galea denies the charges and claims they are the result of a misunderstanding over his use of “homeopathic medications”.

While he admitted that the substances in question are not approved by the Canadian health authorities, he insisted that he is permitted to use them by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons providing his patients have been properly informed, The Telegraph reports.

Galea’s lawyer has acknowledged that one of his treatments involves Actovegin - a controversial drug which contains extracts of calf’s blood which is not approved for sale in Canada and which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency if used intravenously.

Although there is no suggestion that Tiger Woods was given Actovegin or any other unapproved or banned drug, he did avail himself of Galea’s cutting-edge injury-healing procedure called platelet-rich plasma therapy, popularly known as blood-spinning.

The technique involves taking blood from the patient and spinning it in a centrifuge to increase the concentration of red platelets before re-injecting into the patient’s injured ligament, tendon or muscle to speed the rate of healing.

The procedure is legal under WADA rules. (ANI)