Welcome to Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi Ranchi

Ranchi, the erstwhile capital of undivided Bihar, has been synonymous with the treatment of mentally ill patients for the last century. Two of the major mental hospitals in the country were built in the vicinity of each other in Kanke, on the outskirts of Ranchi a hundred years ago. Central Institute of Psychiatry Ranchi, Jharkhand is a premier institution for mental health-related conditions in India. The British established this hospital on 17th May 1918. It was initially named the Ranchi European Lunatic Asylum. CIP Ranchi has come a long way, covering a journey of 100 years, witnessing many transitions and has developed into a comprehensive mental health service delivery centre. It has been responsible for many innovations in the field of mental health and neurosciences including clinical services, state-of-the-art research and manpower training in the country. Spread across 211 acres in the picturesque city of Ranchi, CIP offers the latest medical advances in an environment that promotes mental health and enhances a sense of wellbeing. Until independence, this hospital catered services only to European patients. As Col Berkeley-Hill mentioned,

“The Ranchi European Mental Hospital is the only mental hospital in India which is intended solely for the treatment of persons of either European or American parentage. Natives of Asia or Africa are not eligible for admission. The term European includes persons of mixed parentage, i e., Anglo-Indian or Anglo-African, and to the former the largest percentage of patients belongs.”

(Taken from: Berkeley-Hill O. 1924.)

At present, there are a total of 17 wards with seven wards for the male patients, six for female patients, one ward for children & adolescents, one ward for addiction psychiatry, a Family Unit and an Emergency Ward. Each ward has well-laid out roads and lawns around it. Male and Female sections are separated by a high wall. All the wards are named after eminent European psychiatrists e.g., Kraepelin, Bleuler, Freud, Maudsley etc. Recent facilities and establishments have been named after eminent Indian psychiatrists like D. Satyanand, L. P. Verma, R.B. Davis, Bhaskaran etc. It is worth noting that unlike other mental hospitals, CIP Ranchi has never been a custodial care facility. It has always been an open hospital and the patients are never confined to rooms and are free to roam within the hospital. Apart from drug therapy, various psychotherapies, behavior therapy, group therapy and family therapy are routinely employed. A milieu therapy approach exists where patients participate in running the ward and help in looking after other patients.

Departments like occupational therapy department, medical library, patients’ library, centre for cognitive neurosciences, neuroimaging and radiology department, clinical psychology laboratory, psychosocial unit, pathology and biochemistry laboratory and teaching block for postgraduate students and residents are all housed in a mixture of colonial and modern era buildings, giving a unique flavour to the Institute. Currently, the Institute functions under the administrative control of Directorate General of Health Services and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi. The main objectives of CIP have been patient care, manpower development and research.

There are many firsts to its credit, for e.g. the country's first Occupational Therapy Department in 1922, ECT in 1943, psychosurgery and neurosurgery in 1947, clinical psychology and Electroencephalography (EEG) departments in 1948, a full-fledged neuropathology section in 1952, the first use of Lithium in 1952 and chlorpromazine in 1953. A very modern radiology department with facility for sophisticated cerebral angiography, pneumoencephalography, air ventriculography, myelography etc. was established in 1954. Few other landmarks include starting a child guidance clinic in 1950, rural mental health clinic at Mander in 1967, rehabilitation centre and sheltered workshop in 1967, and industrial psychiatry unit at HEC, Ranchi in 1973. It may also be noted that the Indian Psychiatric Society was established in 1948 because of the efforts of this Institute and it was registered in Patna. The first draft of the Bill that subsequently became the Mental Health Act of India (1987) was written at C.I.P, Ranchi in 1949 by Dr R.B. Davis, the then Medical Superintendent, Dr S.A. Hasib, from Indian Mental Hospital, Ranchi and Dr J. Roy, from Mental Hospital, Gwalior. The latter two too had worked at C.I.P., Ranchi at one time or other. The journey has been a long and distinguished one and the Institute's contribution to Indian Psychiatry has set a tradition of excellence in the field of mental health. Berkeley-Hill wrote in his parting note.

"The miserable bear-garden I had taken charge of in October 1919 had become the finest mental hospital in Asia, and a great deal finer than many mental hospitals in Europe."