August 31: Pharmaceutical companies of Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have been closed after the local administration restricted movement of people and vehicles in the region to prevent coronavirus from spreading. Altogether 15 such industries in the corridor have stopped their production after the administration did not allow them to operate vehicles.

Manager of Quest Pharmaceuticals, Prithvi Rajbhandari, said they had to stop the production as the workers had to be kept in the industry.

“The administration has stopped the operation of vehicles, hence we had to shut down the industry due to lack of workers,” he said. District Administration Office, Parsa has directed all stakeholders to operate the industries by managing quarantine facility for workers.

Majority of workers of the pharmaceutical companies live in Birgunj. The industries have not been able to bring their workers to the factory. A prohibitory orders were imposed in Bara and Parsa on July 25 after an increase in cases of  coronavirus.

The criteria prepared by the government for the operation of the industries state that the industry should make arrangements for quarantine and isolation if any workers are infected on the industry premises or the community. Prabhat Rungata, manager of Maruti Pharma, said that keeping workers in the industry itself increases the risk of contamination of medicines.

“Pharmaceutical industry is different from other industries. Keeping workers in the industry can spread the bacterial contamination in medicine. There isn’t any other option as the administration did not allow bringing the workers,” Rungata told New Business Age.

According to Rungata, among 15 industries, seven of them manufacture medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes, and mental illness. He further said that there might be shortage of these medicines since around 80 percent of such drugs is produced by the industries in this area.