Refrigerating medicines is not enough to maintain their quality and safety: it takes a coordinated cold chain ecosystem with well-trained personnel, standardized processes, and better compliance to achieve this goal. The National Accreditation Board for Cold Chain Management (NAB-CCM) just released a white paper that offers a clear blue path to enhancing the processes of cold chain and distribution throughout India’s pharmaceutical supply chain.
The report identifies a number of ongoing issues that are impacting on the sector. They encompass: inconsistencies in storing as observed from various actors in the supply chain; lack of awareness about storage conditions among front line handlers and pharmacists; lack of harmonized competence assessment and qualification of logistics and service providers; and inconsistent monitoring of the temperature excursion. It also identifies shortcomings in the retail and hospital level storage control and the absence of a common certification system to assure product integrity from retail to hospital.
To help resolve these problems, the white paper outlines a four-stage implementation path.
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