THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Directorate of Indian Systems of Medicine has decided to establish eight more AYUSH villages in the state. With this, the number of such villages will rise to 16. According to Health Minister K K Shailaja, the said initiative is for addressing lifestyle diseases and other non-communicable diseases which are showing a spike among the population due to unhealthy lifestyle and food habits.
The minister further added that as part of the programme, medicinal plant cultivation will be taken up in selected grama panchayats with the help of the Kerala State Medicinal Plant Board and Horticulture Mission. The new panchayats that have been selected for the AYUSH villages are Koothuparamba (Kannur), Kunnumal (Kozhikode), Ottapalam (Palakkad), Nilambur (Malappuram), Mananthavady (Wayanad), Irinjalakuda (Thrissur), Mallapally (Pathanamthitta) and Ambalappuzha (Alappuzha). It is learnt that the selected grama panchayats will be provided with a financial assistance of `10 lakh each.