The government will start full-fledged teaching institutes at four regional mental health hospitals in the state. The major move aims to strengthen mental healthcare services, expand research, and address the shortage of trained mental health professionals in the state.The Regional Mental Hospital, Yerawada, is spread over 138 acres and is among the largest government-run psychiatric facilities in Maharashtra. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the decision goes beyond merely expanding healthcare infrastructure. “It marks a human-centric step toward improving access to modern, quality mental healthcare, especially for vulnerable and underserved sections of society,” he said.The proposed transformation will cover the regional mental health hospitals at Yerawada in Pune, Thane, Ratnagiri and Nagpur. These hospitals currently provide large-scale outpatient and inpatient psychiatric care and collectively have around 5,700 beds, making them among the state’s largest public mental healthcare facilities.The Regional Mental Hospital, Yerawada, is spread over 138 acres and is among the largest government-run psychiatric facilities in Maharashtra. It has an indoor capacity of 2,540 patients and currently houses 921 inmates. The hospital was commissioned in 1915. The hospital has both indoor and OPD facilities for patients. For tertiary mental healthcare services, the hospital caters to Pune, Solapur, Satara, Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Dharashiv, Latur, Nanded, Hingoli and Parbhani districts.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.The move is aligned with the Centre’s manpower development scheme for strengthening postgraduate departments in mental health specialities under the National Mental Health Programme. The focus is on creating a larger pool of trained psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers and mental health nurses.Officials said the state government had already approved several academic programmes in 2019 for select regional mental hospitals. These include MD psychiatry, MPhil in clinical psychology, MPhil in psychiatric social work, and a diploma in psychiatric nursing.At Nagpur’s regional mental hospital, the MD psychiatry programme has been operational since the 2022-23 academic year through a joint effort between the public health department and the medical education department, in collaboration with Indira Gandhi Government Medical College. Four students are admitted every year. So far, 12 students have enrolled, and two have completed the programme.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.