The Union health ministry will take up with the civil aviation and shipping ministries the long-pending proposal to set up dedicated pharma zones and augmenting facilities at the seaports and airports to assist the pharma exporters.

The move to revive the proposal, which has been pending for years now, comes in the wake of the recent recommendation by the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the health ministry.

“Initiatives have been taken for creation of pharma zones at various ports in collaboration with the concerned airport authorities, for providing dedicated areas for storage of drugs at the ports. Pharma zone has been created at Hyderabad airport. The creation of pharma zone at Delhi airport is at an advanced stage,” sources in the Ministry said.

The Ministry is in communication with the Department of Civil Aviation for creation of such facilities. The Ministry would take up the issue with the concerned authorities in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Shipping for necessary action, sources said.

The matter had come in for sharp criticism from the Parliamentary panel recently also. “The Committee finds it incomprehensible as to why the final reply of the Government fails to mention some of the concrete actions in this regard mentioned in the first action taken reply. The Committee, therefore, desires a detailed explanatory note in the matter from the Ministry bringing out the exact position within one month of presentation of this Report to the Parliament,” the panel had said in its latest report.

The CDSCO has eleven airport and seaport offices. The panel had also sought a report from the Airports Authority of India which informed the panel that the freight forwarders/shippers were required to bring the cargo requiring cold storage facility through refrigerated trucks only at Air Cargo complex to avoid spoilage of the contents of such cargo. The custodians at air cargo complexes were required to provide necessary infrastructure for the temperature sensitive cargo, at all stages, and ensure timely and proper handling of such cargo whilst in their custody.

It was further stated that the role of the airlines was of paramount importance when the cargo stands released from the custodian and is to be uploaded to the connected flight. It was pointed out that the grey area was on the apron of the Airport where the incoming/outgoing cargo was often under the scorching sun for few hours by the airlines before loading of the same on their planes. It was suggested that the cooled dollies and thermal blankets could be pressed into service on the apron side by the airlines to provide requisite care to pharmaceutical products, thereby avoiding the deterioration/ decay of the inside contents or potency of the vaccines/drugs/medicines etc.

According to the sources, 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.