LONDON(RAHNUMA): Saudi Arabia has emerged as a potential lifeline for other Gulf states who face dwindling stocks of vital medicines the longer the Middle East war goes on.
Gulf airspace is constantly disrupted, but Riyadh and Jeddah airports remain open to accept deliveries from pharmaceutical companies. The medicines can then be transported by road to their destination. Other options were Istanbul and Oman.
The Gulf relies heavily on imports and some medicines have short shelf lives and need strict cold-chain storage. But major airports in the region including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have been closed because of drone strikes and missile attacks by Iran. Dubai and Doha are major cargo hubs linking Europe with Asia and Africa,
Some medical facilities are warning they could run low on supplies within four to six weeks, said Prashant Yadav, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Cancer drugs were among those at highest risk, he said. Delays in delivery of oncology medicines can have dire consequences for patients.
Wouter Dewulf, a professor at the Antwerp Management School, said industry data showed that over a fifth of global air cargo, the main route for critical or life-saving drugs and vaccines, was exposed to Middle East disruption.
One executive cautioned that alternative “cold-chain corridors,” or temperature-controlled routes used for sensitive medicines, could not be set up overnight and were not always available.
Another pharmaceutical company executive said it had set up internal teams to prioritize patient-critical shipments, including of cancer treatments, and warned some temperature-controlled shipments could miss connections unless proper storage and handling were secured.
A medical device company executive said the first step was to map shipments already in transit or ready to depart, then decide which pallets needed to be diverted and whether new shipments had to be planned.
The executive, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations, said some Europe-Asia cargo that typically move through Dubai or Doha airports was being rerouted via China or Singapore. Sea routes were not practical due to longer journey times, as well as closure of the critical Strait of Hormuz by Iran.
“If you have an urgent surgery with a patient waiting for treatment, you have to choose the faster mode of transport,” the executive said.
Yadav said delays in delivery of oncology medicines can have dire consequences for patients, who might be forced to restart a course of therapy, or see their cancer worsen.
The disruption was already a problem for some companies, he said, with some customers warning they could run low on supplies within four to six weeks if things did not improve.
Over 100 pharma and logistics industry participants joined a webinar last week hosted by Pharma.Aero, a life sciences logistics group, to discuss the Gulf crisis and its supply-chain and transport implications.
