New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): Jammu and Kashmir has got 21 new AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres to create a holistic wellness model aimed at reducing the disease burden and expenditure on healthcare of the intended beneficiaries.

The main focus of AYUSH interventions would be to empower the masses for "self-care" so as to prevent diseases through a healthy lifestyle, food, yoga, and medicinal plants.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that the AYUSH Health and Wellness Programme would not only provide services to the needy but also promote AYUSH at the international level.

Singh said this while laying the foundation stone of the Post-Harvest Management Centre for Medicinal Plants at Bhaderwah in J&K's Doda district, and launch of these 21 AYUSH centres in the Union Territory on Friday through video conference.

These 21 centres have been set up under the 'Ayushman Bharat' initiative.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH Shripad Naik also attended the event.

The Post-Harvest Management Centre for Medicinal Plants would help develop the facilities for drying, sorting, processing, certification, packaging, and safe storage of raw herbal products cultivated and collected by local people so that its enhanced quality fetched a better price and augmented the income of farmers.

In his address, Naik said that the Post-Harvest Management Centre in Bhaderwah region was a long-pending demand of the area people and highlighted the huge potential of the region in the cultivation of many Himalayan medicinal plant species.

The Minister appreciated the effort of UT government officials in implementing a centrally-sponsored programme and stated that the government of India is according top priority to J&K for accelerating the pace of development.