Annual Report 2008-2009 6.16 The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had further informed that during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period, it proposes to establish at least 11 centers of excellence in mental health by upgrading and strengthening identified existing mental health institutions. All Government Medical Colleges, Government General Hospitals, State run Central Health Institutes would also be supported for starting Post-Graduate (PG) courses to increase the intake capacity for PG training in mental health. 6.17 On 20 January 2009, another meeting was convened under the chairmanship of Justice Shri G.P. Mathur, Member, NHRC at NIMHANS in Bangalore. In this meeting the issue of shortage of psychiatrists was discussed in detail. It was recognized that there is a need for MCI to relax its standards from the present 1 : 1 (one Professor : one student) to 1 : 2 (one Professor : two students) for a 10 year period. Based on the discussions held in the meeting, the MCI was urged to inform the NHRC about their views concerning the issue of relaxation of norms to overcome the shortage of psychiatrists in the country at the earliest. At the time of writing of this Annual Report, the response of MCI was still awaited. 6.18 As already mentioned above, on being entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the functioning of three major mental health hospitals in Ranchi, Agra and Gwalior by the Supreme Court of India on 11 November 1997, the NHRC has been incessantly monitoring the functioning of these three hospitals. During 2008-2009, apart from visiting the Gwalior Mansik Arogyashala (GMA) and the Institute of Mental Health and Hospital (IMHH) in Agra, one of the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission visited five other mental health hospitals/institutions in the country, namely — Mental Health Hospital in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh (April 2008), Institute of Mental Health in Kilpauk, Tamil Nadu (July 2008), Yerwada Regional Mental Hospital in Pune, Maharashtra (July 2008), Mental Health Hospital in Cuttack, Orissa (December 2008) and Government Hospital for Mental Care in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (March 2009). Based on the reports of the visits made by the Special Rapporteur, the following issues require immediate attention:- (i) Physical Structure and Infrastructure Most of the mental health hospitals were functioning from old dilapidated buildings and thus suffered from many deficiencies in terms of physical structure as well as infrastructure. The building in which Bareilly Mental Health Hospital is housed was 137 years old. It had seven wards and one family ward but there were no proper facilities whereby any family member could stay. Further, there were inadequate number of beds; as a result, patients were made to lie on the floor. The Mental Health Hospital in Bareilly did not have an emergency ward or a library or proper avenues for recreation. The Out-Patient Department (OPD) was devoid of proper sitting arrangements and did not have any provision of potable drinking water. The Institute of Mental Health at Kilpauk in Chennai is also functioning from a building which is 216 years old. However, in comparison to Bareilly Mental Health Hospital, Kilpauk Mental Health Institute was spacious, endowed with adequate budgetary resources and thus had a 83