Sichuan Airlines to restart ops to India from May 9 Pharma exports body official

Hyderabad, May 6 (PTI) China's state-run Sichuan
Airlines, which had suspended its cargo operations to India
following the second wave of COVID-19, will restart services
from May 9, a top official of Pharmaceuticals Export
Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) said on Thursday.
Recently, the Pharmexcil had sought the intervention of
Indian Ambassador in China into the supply disruption caused
by the suspension ofair cargo services of the airlines to
India, for 15 days.
"Reference is invited to the above-mentioned subject.
In this regard, I am directed to inform that Sichuan
Airlines is restarting its operations from Chengdu to Chennai
from 12th May, and from Chengdu to Bengaluru on 9th May
2021, Director General ofPharmexcil, Udaya Bhaskar told PTI
quoting an email from the Department of Pharmaceuticals.
Sichuan Airlines had announced the suspension of all its
cargo flights to India, causing major disruption to private
traders' efforts to procure the much-needed oxygen
concentrators and other medical supplies from China.
This was despite Beijing offering "support and
assistance" to India to deal with the latest surge of COVID-
19 cases.
In addition to Sichuan Airlines, there are multiple
other cargo operations available from China to India
including charter flights, the DoP reply said.
According to Udaya Bhaskar, India sources almost 60 to
70 per cent of its requirements of drug intermediates, key
starting materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients
(API) from China and most importantly 45 to 50 per cent of
all APIs imported figure in the National List of Essential
Medicines. PTI GDK
ROH ROH

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)