4 regional mental hospitals to be upgraded as teaching institutes in Maharashtra

Mumbai: In a major step to strengthen mental healthcare infrastructure and expand the availability of trained professionals, the Maharashtra government has announced plans to convert four regional mental health hospitals into full-fledged teaching institutes.

According to the news reports, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the move on Saturday, describing it as more than an infrastructure expansion. He said it represents a “human-centric step” focused on improving access to modern and quality mental healthcare, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations.

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The proposed transformation will be carried out at the regional mental health hospitals located in Yerawada (Pune), Thane, Ratnagiri, and Nagpur. These institutions currently serve as major public psychiatric care centres in the state, offering both outpatient and inpatient services.

Collectively, the four hospitals have around 5,700 beds, making them among the largest government-run mental healthcare facilities in Maharashtra.

Among them, the Yerawada Regional Mental Hospital, one of the key institutions in the plan, spans 138 acres and is among the oldest psychiatric facilities in the state, having been established in 1915. With an indoor capacity of 2,540 patients, it currently houses 921 inmates and serves a wide catchment area covering multiple districts, including Pune, Solapur, Satara, Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Dharashiv, Latur, Nanded, Hingoli, and Parbhani.

Fadnavis said the existing infrastructure and manpower at these institutions make them well-suited for academic expansion. “This will improve treatment quality, promote research, and create trained manpower in mental healthcare. It will help us deliver stronger, more accessible and modern mental health services to those who need them most,” he said, reports Hindustan Times.

The initiative aligns with the Centre’s manpower development scheme under the National Mental Health Programme, which focuses on strengthening postgraduate training in mental health disciplines and expanding the pool of specialists.

Officials said the state had already approved several academic programmes in 2019 for select mental health hospitals, including MD Psychiatry, MPhil in Clinical Psychology, MPhil in Psychiatric Social Work, and diploma courses in psychiatric nursing.

At the Nagpur Regional Mental Hospital, the MD Psychiatry programme has been operational since the 2022–23 academic year in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Government Medical College. Four students are admitted annually, with 12 enrolled so far and two having completed the course.

According to Hindustan Times reports, the expansion has also begun in nursing education. Diploma courses in psychiatric nursing were launched in the regional mental hospitals in Thane and Pune in 2022-23. Each institute admits 20 students annually. So far, 59 students from Thane and 60 from Pune have completed the programme.

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