Thane mental hospital seeks new building before making way for new railway station

The 1,850-bed mental hospital is usually has 70 per cent occupancy.

The Thane Mental Hospital is set to lose 14.7 acres of its 60 acre premises, including a female ward, to the Central Railway but not before it gets a brand new building, on lines of Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health And Neurosciences (NIMHANS), to house its female patients.

In April, a team of mental health officials from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and Thane Mental Hospital will visit Bangalore to study the premium institute’s infrastructure for patients. A similar model is expected to be replicated at the Thane hospital as a replacement of the female ward that may be demolished soon.

“As part of the demolition, 400-600 female patients will be displaced. We have asked government to first construct a new building and then take over the land,” said Dr Nitin Bhalerao, state in-charge for mental health.
The proposal to take over the hospital’s lush green property is part of long-pending demand to construct a new railway station between Thane and Mulund for the central line passengers. The proposed station is slated to come up in Kopri over land that currently belongs to the mental hospital.

The 1,850-bed mental hospital is usually has 70 per cent occupancy. According to hospital superintendent Dr Ujwala Ghute, there is still no clarity when the project will take off. Doctors attached with the hospital added that after the new female ward is constructed, there are plans to to redo the entire hospital.

Former health minister, Suresh Shetty, had, in 2011, floated a project to revamp the entire hospital on lines of NIMHANS. Except for the geriatric ward in which over 20 patients remain admitted, no other plan under renovation has taken off.

The state government now plans to follow NIMHANS and create a separate out-patient department for geriatric, de-addiction patients and other patients. “Our hospital has a common OPD for every patient right now. We plan to escalate quality of services,” a doctor said.

The new railway station is expected to ease commuter burden from Thane and Mulund railway station and will cater to passengers mainly from Ghodbunder, Wagle Estate and Majiwada area.

Sajeev Jaiswal, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) commissioner, told The Indian Express that all queries presented by the state health department have been discussed and approved.

“The land will be first transferred to TMC. We will construct the new ward in an open space in hospital. The land for railway station will be transferred to Central Railway. The project is funded under the Smart City programme,” he said.

An official proposal from the railways for alignment, location of railway station and number of platforms has been approved. The final proposal will now be tabled in the cabinet for approval.

“Under Smart City, we have also approved Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) to ease traffic in the east of the new station. This is just like the system set up in Thane west station,” commissioner Jaiswal added.
The new suburban railway station will also have a bus terminus and connectivity with Eastern Express Highway.