Plans are under way to build a Khmer traditional medicine facility next year in Phnom Penh, Heang Ponlei, director of the National Research Centre for Traditional Medicine, said Sunday. Heang Ponlei said the facility would serve as a college as well as a factory for traditional medicine, if sufficient funding could be obtained. The Japanese government has pledged US$100,000 per year to train students and manufacture medicine, but Heang Ponlei said more funding will be needed if the facility is to be fully established by 2012. “Khmer traditional medicine does not progress here because the Cambodian government does not provide financial support,” Heang Ponlei said.