Union Budget: Ranchi set to emerge as mental healthcare hub

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the setting up of a second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences NIMHANS 2.0 and the upgrade of national mental health institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur as regional apex institutions.

Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand and known for its mental health institutions, received a boost in the Union Budget with the announcement to upgrade national mental health facilities in the city. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the setting up of a second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS 2.0) and the upgrade of national mental health institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur as regional apex institutions. The first NIMHANS is located in Bengaluru. The city's two major health institutions – Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), run by central government, and Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), state-owned institution – have been serving as premier centres for psychiatric care, research, and rehabilitation for over 100 years. CIP authorities have expressed happiness over the announcement and said they had been demanding the institute's upgrade on the lines of NIMHANS. The institute was established by the British on May 17, 1918 with the name of Ranchi European Lunatic Asylum. CIP Ranchi director Vijai Kumar Chaudhary said they have already sent a proposal for the upgrade of the institution to the central government. ''We have proposed a 500-bed new hospital on the institute campus, in which there will be facilities such as neuro-surgery, neurology department and pediatrics department,'' Chaudhary told PTI. ''We are confident of getting the budget sanctioned in the coming financial year. This will be one of the biggest upgrades and will benefit people of Jharkhand and adjoining states,'' he said. ''CIP is spread over 220 acres. We hope to begin the project in the coming financial year,'' he added. Presenting the Union Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman said, ''There are no national institutes for mental healthcare in north India. We will, therefore, set up NIMHANS 2.0 and also upgrade national mental health institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur as regional apex institutions.''

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