Amidst the acres of lush green land lying unused at the outskirts of Belgaum in Karnataka, the JG Co-operative Hospital Society, a charitable institution based in Karnataka has set up the first naturopathy and yoga centre in the area, that would act as a healing and rejuvenation centre to people suffering from several lifestyle-related diseases.

The 40-bedded centre that stretches across 20,000 sq ft and built at a cost of Rs.3 crore will be the third such initiative from the JG Co-operative Hospital Society, which already has a 250 bedded multi-specialty hospital and a 120-bedded Ayurveda hospital to its credit.

To be headed by Dr VB Naikwadi, chairman and member of the managing committee of the JG Co-operative Hospital Society, the centre will have close to 37 different types of treatment facilities that would be manned by a team of 4 doctors, 10 therapists and several other technicians who would be available to treat multiple diseases for the patients.

"The centre is an effort from the JG Co-operative Hospital Society to make available the drugless therapy (naturopathy and yoga) that would be virtually free from any side-effects and to save the sufferers from the clutches of drugs and their irreparable side effects, which at times could be fatal", says Dr Naikwadi who has been associated with the project for more than 2 years since it was first incepted. According to Dr Naikwadi, pollution free environment, close proximity to national terminals and a spiritual environment would be the ideal advantages that would set the centre apart from the others.

With most of the features at the centre being patient-centric, it would be allotting different grades and wards to the people based on their economy. For the absolute poor and deserving the centre has reserved a maximum of 20 beds (50 per cent) under the General Ward category that would be available at a cost of Rs.150 per day. The other categories include 16 beds reservation under the Special Wards category to be made available at a cost of Rs.250 per day and 10 beds under the A/C cottages category that would be made available at a cost of Rs.600 per day.

Several treatment and healing therapies that would be offered at the centre include; naturopathy, hydro-therapy, chromo-therapy, mud therapy, acupressure, reflexology, yoga therapy, nutritional therapy, magneto therapy, physiotherapy and acupuncture.

The various diseases that the centre would be treating include migraine headache, diabetes mellitus, sinusitis, varicose veins, urinary tract infections, asthma, arthritis, constipation, paralysis and nervous disorders among others.

Additional features that would be available at the centre include; yoga hall, yogic kriyas section, nutrition centre, library, recreation hall, reflexology tract, acupressure and acupuncture wing, walking track, gym and physiotherapy and magneto therapy wing.

Future plans for the centre include expanding it to a further 100-beds within two years time. The management committee has even set aside a corpus of Rs.2 crore for the purpose that would include infrastructure and upgradation.