Maharashtra to get a mental health hospital after 100 years with hi-tech facilities

At present, Maharashtra has four regional mental health hospitals in Pune, Thane, Nagpur and Ratnagiri.

The oldest one is the 940-bedded Nagpur regional mental health hospital which was established in 1,884.

After 31 years, the latest hospital was constructed in Pune in 1915 with over 2,000 bed capacities—one of the largest mental hospitals in Asia.

Since then, in the last 108 years, the state’s attempts to ramp up mental health institutions failed repeatedly.

However, the public health department finally got the approval last week to set up the high-tech advanced mental health hospital in Shirol which is 7 kms away from Sangli district and 30 kms from Kolhapur main city.

“Some patients who suffer from psychosis, bipolar mood disorder or have suicidal tendencies require admissions and special care by experts. And the process of recovery takes days, so we are trying to increase the number of hospitals for a more holistic approach,” said Dr Swapnil Lale, Additional Director of Health Service, Maharashtra.

To provide state-of-art treatment for patients, the state health department wants to make this new hospital at par with Bangalore’s NIMHANS—a world-renowned government institution for mental health and neurosciences

“This will be the first-of-its kind such advanced mental health hospital in Maharashtra. It is our dream project,” said Dr Lale.

The hospital will perform psychosurgeries which are used in rare cases to treat severe mental health problems. This will help to treat patients suffering from vascular, epilepsy, peripheral nerves among others.

Explaining about it, Dr Lale said, “These surgeries are new treatment avenues which consist of stereotactic operations on the brain aimed at altering abnormal physiology. It is widely used to alleviate symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in patients who do not respond to therapy.”

Neurosurgeons will be appointed for such procedures. At present, none of the state government-run regional hospitals has such facilities.

The department also wants to set up laboratories like Molecular Genetics Laboratory which can help in molecular diagnostics projects in neuropsychiatric disorders. The operating rooms have most modern surgical equipment like intraoperative CT, intraoperative ultrasound and others.

With the approval, the public health department will now submit the project for financial approval.
The state with over 12 crore estimated population, records over 2.2 lakh footfall of patients annually in OPD for mental health treatment. While, on an average, 13,000 patients who with severe mental health ailments require admission, as per the data shared by the public health department.

“Incidences of mental health are increasing globally. The Covid-19 pandemic further aggravated the situation,” said Dr Lale.

The existing 6,000 government-run hospital beds aren’t enough to provide quality health care. Also, these hospitals also have a large burden of abandoned patients, some requiring stay for over 20 years.

As The Indian Express reported last year, between January 2016 and September 2021, a total of 5,877 patients with mental ailments have been abandoned by their relatives in the four regional mental hospitals.

Nagpur with 3,829 such patients accounted for nearly 60 percent of these abandoned patients followed by Ratnagiri (1,674), Pune (361) and Thane (13). “The Nagpur Division is in the central region of India, so we get patients from other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, among others,” said a doctor from Nagpur regional mental health hospital that annually records over 1,400 admissions.

For years, public-health policy makers and doctors have been raising the need for more regional mental health hospitals especially in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions that have the highest incidences of mental health issues.

“These are the regions that record highest farmer suicides. Also, incidences of depression and anxiety along with addiction issues are quite prevalent,” said Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist who also works for rights for mental health.