A year ago, the courier company TNT Express introduced a specialized service called Cold Chain Transport. Today, the institutions using this service include the Heart Valve Bank of the Children’s Memorial Health Institute. It arranges up to five heart valve transports per month – both in Poland and abroad.
– Can I imagine modern transplantology without a service like Cold Chain Transport? Nowadays, not really. Delivering tissues for transplants the traditional way – by a specialized delivery van – would, firstly, take too long, and secondly, it would significantly increase the costs of transplantation, which are already very high – says Maciej Fedorowicz, head of the Heart Valve Bank at the Children’s Memorial Health Institute. – On the other hand, standard air transport services do not guarantee the appropriate conditions for transporting human tissue.
Cold Chain Transport is a cold chain supply solution designed for shipments particularly sensitive to temperature changes. Thanks to the use of TNT Express’s extensive network of air and road connections, covering 200 countries, as well as the use of special Medpak Thermo packaging and temperature measuring devices, the transported substances do not change their chemical composition due to temperature fluctuations. The service provides express transport for, among other things, clinical samples, organs for transplantation, bodily fluids, and chemical substances.
– We store heart valves in our laboratories – in liquid nitrogen, at a temperature of minus 170 degrees Celsius – which are also used for transplants in other centers – says Maciej Fedorowicz. – If a facility in need of a valve contacts us, it must then be transported to the site of the implantation surgery. Thanks to the cooperation with TNT Express, the delivery of human tissue can take place under safe conditions, guaranteeing its storage at the proper temperature.
– Medpak Thermo guarantees the maintenance of a constant temperature for 72 or 96 hours, depending on the type of packaging chosen – says Monika Uchnast, Manager of the Medical Center Customer Service Team at TNT Express. – The quality of the Cold Chain Transport service consists of the experience of specialists from the Medical Center department and the flexibility of the offered service options. This service is used by the most demanding institutions, such as the Children’s Memorial Health Institute, as well as pharmaceutical companies for which we transport medicines and substances for the production of medicines that require strict temperature control.
Specially trained TNT personnel coordinate the transport of shipments and provide 24-hour advice on choosing the right packaging and service options: standard or specialized. The first of these guarantees the execution of the service through the integrated air and road network of TNT Express. Thanks to the highly developed structure of connections carried out by the company’s fleet, the shipment will reach the recipient within 48 hours. The second option offers the customization of the service to the individual needs of the client, 24 hours a day and anywhere in the world. This is a service intended for extremely important and urgent shipments that must reach the recipient within 24 hours. This option enables, among other things, the execution of the service by a dedicated courier.