State Mental Health Institute

State Mental Health Institute

Location	Selaqui, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
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Website	[ Official website]

The State Mental Health Institute is a specialist psychiatric hospital located in Selaqui, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. It serves patients from Uttarakhand as well as neighboring states such as Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. The hospital's outpatient department treats over 10,000 patients annually, while it has 30 beds for inpatient psychiatric admissions. It is situated in Selaqui, about 25 km from the main city of Dehradun, along National Highway 72 towards Paonta Sahib.

Controversy and criticisms

Allegations of neglect of patients

In 2012, the Gharwal Post reported allegations of neglect of psychiatric patients by the hospital staff. The newspaper claimed that there was only one psychiatrist to attend to the thousands of outpatients and the 30 inpatients admitted at a time. This situation reportedly remained unchanged for four years, and the quality of care was further compromised due to the presence of involuntary patients who were often uncooperative.

In 2013, journalist Tarun Vijay from the Times of India visited the hospital and wrote about the conditions in his blog. He reported that the hospital was in a dilapidated state, understaffed, and most of the hospital equipment was non-functional.

Currently, the institute has two psychiatrists and two medical officers. The administration is supervised by a chief medical superintendent. Both psychiatrists have over ten years of experience in their field. The institute has proposed to increase its bed capacity to 100.