Here's good news for asthma patients.

In a major announcement, Union Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has appealed to medical doctors as well as patients to switch to eco-friendly inhalers, which are free of chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs).

The country is working towards terminating CFCs entirely by January next year (2010) as CFCs are harmful for ozonosphere.

During a workshop at AIIMS, Dr. Surinder Singh, Drug Controller of India stated, "Environmentally-friendly asthma and COPD inhalers are being introduced across the country as the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) phase-out gains momentum. The withdrawal of CFC-containing inhalers follows the Montreal Protocol, to which India is a signatory. Soon, all asthma and COPD inhalers in India will either be dry powder inhalers or they will use a new hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) propellant."

According to the reports, there are over 300 million people suffering from asthma and more than 210 million COPD patients throughout the world.

As inhalers provide relief to asthma and COPD patients, and their usage is growing day-by-day, India is making efforts to develop CFC-free inhalers.

"MDIs continue to be the main support system for the treatment of such patients. There has been sufficient effort from our end to switch to non-CFC inhalers but there is a need for awareness among doctors and patients to make the transition successfully," Azad said.

Study has proved that the HFA solutions produce very small particles that go through the small airways present in the lungs better than the previous CFC formulation of the similar medicine.

While discussing CFC-free inhalers at the AIIMS, the hospital Director R C Deka said, "These CFC-free inhalers provide the same health benefits as the old CFC containing inhalers without damaging the ozone layers."