Maharashtra Health Minister Prakash Abitkar recently conducted a review of the Regional Mental Hospital in Yerawada, Pune, highlighting significant shortcomings in the facility’s infrastructure, hygiene, and patient care. The visit, which took place on January 3, has prompted a statewide inspection of all four mental health institutions in Maharashtra—located in Pune, Thane, Nagpur, and Kolhapur.

Abitkar expressed serious dissatisfaction with the conditions during his inspection, which took note of poor hygiene, inadequate patient care, and bad infrastructure. “The government is seriously considering these concerns and hence my visit is important.  Like Regional Mental Hospital there are three other mental hospitals in the state and a message needs to be sent that we are exploring ways and means to ensure the welfare of the mentally ill and provide rehabilitation,” Abitkar told reporters. 

Following his visit, directives were issued to health department officials by Dr. Vijay Baviskar, Additional Director of Health Services, mandating a comprehensive review of outpatient and inpatient services, cleanliness, food quality, medication availability, and telemedicine facilities. 

The Yerawada facility, which dates back to 1915, houses 938 patients and is grappling with outdated infrastructure. Out of 158 structures on-site, 50 are non-operational, and most buildings exceed a century in age. 

Abitkar has proposed a ₹132 crore budget to upgrade the state’s mental hospitals, with plans to model Pune’s facility after the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru. However, he acknowledged that immediate attention must be directed toward basic operational issues like staff shortages.

Experts have long criticized the state of mental health facilities in India, describing them as custodial rather than therapeutic. Muktesh Daund, a psychiatrist in Nashik, has published a paper on the state of mental health institutions in India, in which he stresses on the need to transform them into modern centers for psychiatric care, with advanced outpatient and inpatient services.