While the ayurvedic drug manufacturers in Kerala are keen to set up export oriented drug-manufacturing facilities, majority of the allopathic drug makers in the state are yet to start implementing the Schedule M guidelines.

According to sources, only five out of nearly 90 allopathic drug manufacturers in Kerala have so far complied with the revised Schedule M norms. As against this, more than 70 of 780 odd licensed ayurvedic manufacturers have WHO-GMP certified manufacturing premises.

According to Dr A M D Namboodiri, vice-president of the Federation of South Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (FSPMA) and President of the Kerala Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (KPMA), the association would soon take up an emergency awareness campaign among the small-scale sector formulation manufacturers on the importance of complying with the revised Schedule M norms before the extended deadline of 31st December 2004.

"More than 95 per cent of our members are manufacturers of general hospital items and are dependent only on government hospital supplies. They clearly lack awareness on the importance of complying with the Schedule M norms. Therefore, the association will immediately take up necessary awareness campaigns to help these units comply with the revised Schedule M norms," said Dr Namboodiri.

Only 43 of the 90 allopathic drug manufacturers are members of KPMA. Some of the firms that have Schedule M compliant manufacturing facilities are Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Variety Pharmaceuticals, Kokkatt Pharma and Vaishali Pharmaceuticals.

Sources noted the opportunity for ayurvedic products in the global market could be the reason for traditional ayurvedic firms adapting to WHO-GMP certified manufacturing lines. More than 60 SSI sector ayurvedic drug makers in the state have WHO-GMP certified factories. Kerala has only about a dozen medium to large-scale ayurvedic drug manufacturing firms, and the rest are small-time players.