New Delhi, Nov. 2: Left ministers will soon be able to look beyond Vedic Village for a massage. What’s more, they can now choose their spa by looking up the government’s accreditation list.

The Centre will this month introduce an accreditation system for wellness centres across the country to stop substandard spas from cheating customers with sham treatment.

The urgency stems from the government’s keenness to sell India as a medical and wellness tourism hotspot, especially in West Asia, with the hope that this market would grow to Rs 9,400 crore by 2012.

“We have been receiving complaints from tourists about the poor service at various wellness centres. If this is not checked, it is bound to bring a bad name to the entire medical tourism sector at a time it is raring to go,’’ a tourism ministry official said.

He said that at many treatment centres, hotel waiters masqueraded as masseurs.

“Wellness spas mushroom during the tourist season and most of these lack trained doctors and masseurs and merely offer an ordinary oil massage masquerading as ayurvedic treatment.”

The Vedic spa, of course, had faced no such charges from Bengal land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah, who had created a flutter during the controversy over the resort’s land deals by admitting he had received free treatment there. Mollah may not have any use for the accreditation ----- he had said the spa’s doctor now treated him at home --- but his colleagues might well want to take advantage of it.

The accreditation will be introduced by the tourism ministry in collaboration with the Quality Council of India (QCI) and the department of Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathy (Ayush) under the health and family welfare ministry.

The QCI will rate the centres according to norms set by the department of Ayush. There will be two types of accreditation ---- the higher Green Leaf and the lower Olive Leaf (see chart).

The accreditation, however, will not be mandatory. “The system will be voluntary but those who get QCI accreditation will be allowed to advertise the fact. They will also be listed on the official website of Incredible India,’’ the official said.

Business chamber Confederation of Indian Industry too has been demanding accreditation for all categories of hospitals for some time, and has offered to support those that get QCI ratings.

Ashok Tanwar of Wellness India, a tour agency specialising in medical tourism, welcomed the government move.

“The demand for alternative healing methods is immense in India,” he said. “Accreditation of hospitals and treatment centres will be a major step towards curbing issues relating to unhealthy practices in the name of alternative medicine.”

Ayurveda and yoga are the most popular alternative treatments, but the majority of successful spas also offer detoxification, oil massages, steam baths, and anti-ageing and slimming programmes along with accommodation.

“Treatments for backache, infertility and addiction are also much sought after,’’ Tanwar said.