The West Asia conflict has adversely impacted Punjab-based pharmaceutical units, with manufacturing costs rising by nearly 30 per cent due to a sharp spike in petroleum-based raw material used for the packaging of medicines.Meanwhile, pharmaceutical exporters say their exports to the West Asia and North Africa, have also completely stopped.The disruptions have impacted close to 130 units making allopathic medicines in Punjab. Of these 35 are located in Amritsar alone.Ajay, who runs a pharmaceutical unit here, said the containers destined for countries such Saudi, Sudan and Libya were stranded in Maharashtra and Gujarat, forcing nearly 130 manufacturing units to scale down operations.He also hit out at the government, accusing it of failing to take stock of the situation. Amit Kapur, another pharmaceutical manufacturer, said their input cost had escalated by 30 per cent. He said the prices of petroleum-based products increased sharply since the war broke out.He said prices of gelatin capsules, blister foil, glass vials, aluminum foil and plastic bottles had surged considerably.Rates of chemicals glycerine, propylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol and methylene chloride have also surged.Meanwhile, dealers are pressing the manufacturers to make advance payments instead of the three-month credit period they offered earlier.‘Business unviable’Mohali-based Punjab Drug Association president Jagdeep Singh said with the hike in the input cost, manufacturing had become unviable as they could not fix the price higher than the limits set under the drug price control mechanism.He added that some bulk drug dealers were holding back the supply of material. Jagdeep said as prices of several essential drugs were controlled, the manufacturers feared the shortage of life-saving drugs in near future.