The new wing at the Nur Manzil Psychiatric Centre in Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, was a project of the Methodist Church in India. Nur Manzil is India's only psychiatric hospital run by Christians and was founded in 1950 by the Methodist missionary and evangelist Dr. E. Stanley Jones.

Until now, Nur Manzil has had to house children together with adults because there was no separate children's ward. But children can now live and be treated in surroundings more congenial to them than those of an adult ward. And the new space opens the way for use of games and other special play therapies regarded as helpful tools for treating young patients.

Beyond its benefit to children, the new wing adds 50 beds to the hospital, bringing to 85 the number available for inpatients. Nur Manzil treats more than 1,500 outpatients yearly, and has approximately 25 semi-residential units and halfway houses.

Work on the new wing began last year and was financed with $400,000 through the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church (GBGM). The structure replaces what had been a crumbling domed building, more than a century old, that had been declared unfit for public use.

A formal dedication ceremony marked the wing's opening in late February. Among the honored guests were the chief secretary of the Uttar Pradesh government, Yogendra Narain; the Reverend Paul Dirdak, deputy general secretary, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR); and Dr. Sarla E. Lall, executive secretary of GBGM's Health and Welfare unit.

May 17, 1999