The Kerala State Homeopathic Cooperative Pharmacy Ltd (Homco), a joint venture between the Government of Kerala and the homeopaths in the state, will be upgrading its manufacturing facilities using the State and Central Government funds.

The State government had allotted Rs two crore to Homco for upgrading its facilities and doubling its production capacity. Apart from this the Central government has sanctioned Rs 165 lakh as the part of a scheme for improving the State Pharmacies. Homco will utilize this amount for upgrading its facilities.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Homco managing director Dr G Prasannachandran said that the first phase of the manufacturing facility up gradation was over and the second phase was in progress. He said that, as the land on which the manufacturing facility was situated was insufficient, Homco would be purchasing another 2 ½ acres of land in the same locality.

"In the first phase we concentrated on the liquid preparation and now we are seeing an increase in its production capacity. In the second phase we are planning to concentrate on the tablets and we want to double its production capacity too. As we are receiving lot of orders, it is pertinent that we double our production capacity," said he.

He said that Homco would also be introducing new products this year, but the range of products has not been decided. Homco will also be purchasing new machineries for supporting their production expansion endeavour in the course of time.

Speaking about Homco's yet another venture, he said there were plans to create awareness among people about the efficacy of homeopathy and its treatment procedures. This according to him will be done in a phased manner.

"We will be using the media for creating this awareness. It has become important for people to know about the science of Homeopathy and the treatment procedures. So we have decided to conduct awareness programmes throughout the State. We haven't fixed the date or duration for conducting the awareness programmes," he said.

As Pharmabiz had reported earlier, Homco is also planning to cultivate medicinal plants essential for the homeopathic drugs. For this purpose Homco has bought 5.5 acres land at a cost of Rs 18.5 lakh at Mundakkayam near Kottayam for cultivating 15 varieties of medicinal plants. The state Medicinal Plant Board has funded Rs 12 lakh for promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants, Dr Prasannachandran said.