Union Budget announces NIMHANS 2.0 in Ranchi
Ranchi is set to get NIMHANS 2.0 after the Union Budget announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The new institute will strengthen mental healthcare facilities in Jharkhand and neighbouring states, building on the city’s long-standing psychiatric institutions
Ranchi: Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand and known for its mental health institutions, is set to get its first NIMHANS, which will further augment mental healthcare infrastructure in northern India.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced the setting up of the second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS 2.0) in Ranchi. The first NIMHANS is located in Bengaluru.
The city’s two major health institutions – the Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), run by the central government, and the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), a 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 have been demanding the institute’s upgradation on the lines of NIMHANS.
The institute was established by the British on May 17, 1918, with the name Ranchi European Lunatic Asylum. CIP Ranchi director Vijai Kumar Chaudhary said they have already sent a proposal for the upgradation 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 neurosurgery, neurology and paediatrics departments,” 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.”