Broad-based with a cutting edge: the evolution and growth of NIMHANS

Abstract

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, India began as the lunatic asylum, in 1848, when a separate asylum to care for the mentally ill was approved by Sir Mark Cubbon, Commissioner of Mysore in the Pettah area of Bangalore. After the transfer of power from the British to the Kingdom of Mysore in 1881, it became, for a while, the only asylum to be supported by a native kingdom. A larger mental hospital, in the light of the expanding population of Mysore, was thought essential by the 1920's, when the Maharaja of Mysore approved the decision to build a new asylum. This was finally completed in 1937, and by then had been renamed as the Mysore State Mental Hospital. The hospital, and its staff, was recommended as the first institution to begin training specialists in psychiatry and related mental health fields, after Independence, in 1953, when it was renamed the All-India Institute of Mental Health. It now houses the Department of Psychiatry at NIMHANS. The asylum architecture, horticultural layout, high standards of mental health care and emphasis on scientific training initiated in the early part of the last century continue to date and many of its alumni hold distinguished positions all over the world.