Moved by the persistent demand from the pharmaceutical exporters and importers, the government is planning to further augment the drug storage facilities at the Mumbai and Delhi airports by creating additional cold chain capacities.

The government has placed drug storage facility as a priority agenda and will be starting with the two major airports now. The facilities at five key airports including Hyderabad and Bangalore will be augmented may be in the next two to three years. The complaints by the pharma industry that quality of medicines transported through air routes is getting affected due to the lack of proper storage system will thus be solved to a great extent, sources said.

A committee comprising the departments of health, pharma and civil aviation, along with representatives from the Airports Authority of India and the developers of the two airports is coordinating the augmentation of facilities at the two airports now.

Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) has already created four new cold rooms for pharma products. The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has also planned to create 3700 square meters of additional cold room facilities for pharma products when the new cargo terminal becomes operational, sources said.

Drugs when not stored at recommended temperature whether transported through air route or any other mode of transport can deteriorate due to extreme temperatures, both high and low. Facilities for storage of drugs, including drugs requiring special storage conditions, are available at some of the airports. Where such facilities are not available because of space constraints or other reasons the consignments requiring special storage conditions are released on priority basis to avoid any deterioration in the quality, sources said.

The original proposal suggested by the CDSCO was to create full fledged dedicated pharma zones at the airports and seaports in line with good manufacturing practices and good distribution practices to assure quality, safety and efficacy of drugs meant for export and import. As per the plan, pharma zones are to come up at the airports of Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Besides, another cargo zone will come up at Nhava Sheva port at Navi Mumbai.