Airport lacks cold-storage facility for pharma reagents

The state accounts for about 40 per cent of the total pharmaceutical production in India,according to the Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) figures.

The ACC at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport has cold-storage facilities,but lacks basic requirements for storing imported reagents during Customs clearance.

A spot check by The Indian Express revealed that the ACC cold-storage facility has a temperature range between 2 and 10 degrees centigrade and 10 and 25 degrees centigrade. A cold-storage for special reagents for use in pharmaceutical research,should be in the 0 to – 50 degrees centigrade range,say scientists.

A senior scientist working in the field of health research said: “As it is we do not get reagents on time,and to top it all,when these costly reagents are imported for research,there is the danger of spoilage due to lack of proper storage facility at the airport. We then have to rush for Customs clearance.”

A customs clearance agent recounted how a batch of exports had to be disposed due to lack of storage facilities compounded by the delay in Customs clearance. “Recently we were forced to dispose injections and medical products,leading to losses,” he said.

Sources at the Customs House Agents Association said on condition of anonymity: “The Ahmedabad ACC has no facilities for storage of pharmaceutical products. We are forced to use dry ice. Every ACC is supposed to maintain temperature below 0 degrees centigrade,but Ahmedabad ACC lacks this.”

This has taken a toll on the trade at the Ahmedabad airport,according to people associated with the export and import of reagents and pharma drugs. The airport lacks specialised cold-storage facility. The Mumbai international airport is better equipped in this regard,they said.

The ACC cold-storage facility is at present managed by the Gujarat State Export Corporation Limited (GSECL). GSECL General Manager Sandeep Chavda said: “We will soon have a new set-up where temperature below 0 degree centigrade will be available for pharma products.” Incidentally,the state government sold 56.6 per cent of its share in GSECL to the Adani group in 2004.