A person undergoes ayurvedic treatment at the centre. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Nov. 5: The city might not have any of the sun-kissed beaches like Kerala, but foreign tourists throng the twin ayurvedic centres here like the god’s own country.

“Oil therapy massage is quite popular among foreign tourists who visit this part of the country. In Kerala, we find a lot of foreigners having regular ayurvedic massages. To cater to the need of the foreigners as well as the local people we have opened new centres and we are having a good response, too,” said Ruby Haridas, managing director of Kerala Ayurvedic Treatment Centre.

While the state capital had one centre at Saket Nagar, which was opened last year, another centre came up at Kanke today.

Haridas added that people come here as lots of diseases are also being cured through ayurvedic treatments — be it paralysis, arthritis, joint pain, sinus and fat loss apart from oil therapy treatment.

“It takes one month to treat patients and it also depends on the nature of the disease as the therapy ranges from 14 to 21 days,” he said.

The charge may vary depending on the therapy one undergoes in these days. For oil therapy, one has to shell out Rs 500 for an hour.

The oils are brought from Aryavadyshala Kottkal, Annakulum in Kerala. The centre has taken dealership to provide oil to patients. Likewise, there is a tremendous craze for oil therapy too as both young, middle-aged and couples are coming.

“People feel quite relaxed after getting the therapy in this stressful life,” he added.

Haridas said the treatment is having a good effect on people as they do not eat much of fish and sour stuff.

“In Kerala people always eat fish and lots of sour foods and the result is not very encouraging there,” he added.

Rita Kumari, one of the customers at the ayurvedic centre, said she was suffering from joint pain for the past one year. “One my close relatives gave me the address of the centre as she had undergone a similar kind of treatment in Kerala two years ago,” added the housewife.