History of National Institute of Mental Health - Sri Lanka

History of National Institute of Mental Health - Sri Lanka

History reveals that therapeutic measures for mental illness were practiced in Sri Lanka in the 4th century BC. The new western medical treatment began in the 1800s in hospitals. The law is under ―Lunatic Ordinance of 1873‖ which was amended nine times till 1956 where the wording is substituted as ―Mental diseases Act – Act no 27 of 1956‖.

The first mental asylum was the Leprosy Hospital, Hendala; a hospital for leprosy patients and an area had been separated for mentally ill. Then as the inpatient count had gone up markedly the services were expanded to asylums in Borella and Jawatta.

In 1917 to expand the in-patient space for mentally ill it was decided by the then governors to build another hospital in Angoda to reside 1800 patients. The Angoda Mental Asylum was declared open on 31st January 1926 for 1728 patients. In 1942 April, at the second world war the Angoda Mental Asylum was bombed by Japanese by mistake. Seventy patients were injured while ten died. As compensation they decided to build a hospital in Mulleriyawa. As the patient numbers were rising heavily the bed strength was upgraded from 1800 to 2125 in 1954. Mulleriyawa Unit 1 was opened to host less disturbed patients with open wards of 840 bed capacity and another hospital was opened in Pelawatta of 3507 bed capacity. Mulleriyawa Unit 2 was open for patients with chronic mental illness who stayed longer and in 1962, 284 patients were there.

In 1982 September, a part of the female ward three storied building collapsed and six patients died. The whole three buildings were demolished by the recommendation of an appointed committee. Female patients residing in those buildings were sent to Mulleriyawa Unit 2 and all the male patients were taken to Angoda. A new single story building complex was built in 1987 with the patronage of a donor and is the current ward complex.

The village name ―Angoda '' was changed to ―Mulleriyawa new town‖ in 1985 by the then government of Sri Lanka but the still famous name among the public is Angoda.

In 2004 following the Tsunami to Sri Lanka; Mental Health received international attention and was developed markedly. Mental health services were planned to be distributed to the entire island, thus Hendala and Mulleriyawa Unit 1 were converted to General Hospitals gradually.

A Mental Health Policy was drafted in collaboration with the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists and approved by the Government in 2005. Then the mental health services were decentralized and community psychiatry services were established and establishment of a National Institute for Mental Health was proposed. Angoda Mental Hospital was upgraded to National Institute of Mental Health, Sri Lanka to be the nerve center for clinical care and for specialized services and training & research in mental health by a Cabinet decision on 31st October 2008 and was published in the health sector with a letter by the Director General of Health Services in January 2009.

The Mulleriyawa Unit 2 was renamed as ―Halfway Home‖ in 2008 and restructured to host clients for rehabilitation and social reintegration. Then over the years in-patient total was taken down from 2000 to 400 odd numbers by reintegrating them to society.

Since then mental health services, psychiatry therapeutic care, rehabilitation and fight against social stigma have developed markedly over the years. Infrastructure and human resource development were slowly rising. The current Vision and Mission with the Objectives were developed by the representation of all the staff categories in 2017 for the next 10 years. The institutional guidelines are being revised accordingly.

Reference:

1.Suwa Diviyata Suwa Manasak (Jathika Manasika Saukya Vidyayathanaya- Angoda); Chamari Shyama

Nilanthika Vithanage – 2018

2. Medico-legal Journal of Sri Lanka, 2017;5(1) – Development of Civil Commitment Statutes (Laws of Involuntary detention and treatment in Sri Lanka:- A Historical Review; de Alwis L.A.P.

3. South Asian Journal of Psychiatry (Volume 2:1) – Country Profiles – The evolution of Psychiatric

Services in Sri Lanka; Harischandra Gambheera

4. Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers 08/1849/311/088