Union Budget 2026 | Ranchi set to emerge as mental healthcare hub with NIMHANS 2.0

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 Minster Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced setting up the second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS 2.0) in Ranchi. The first NIMHANS in located in Bengaluru.

The city's two major health institutions – Central Institute of Psychiatry (CIP), run by central government, and Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (RINPAS), state-owned institution – have been serving as premier centers 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 upgrade on the lines of NIMHANS.

The institute was established by the British on May 17, 1918 with the name of Ranchi European Lunatic Asylum.

CIP Ranchi director Vijai Kumar Chaudhary said they have already sent a proposal for the upgrade 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 neuro-surgery, neurology department and pediatrics department," 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."