The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen graced the consecration of the PEMA Centre, the country’s apex mental health hospital on 10 October 2026: The Centre brings together outpatient, inpatient and day-care services under one roof, along with child protection services, and will serve as the national hub guiding and strengthening mental health care across the country. The Centre includes a dedicated clinic for children and adolescents, a structured programme for addiction recovery, and specialised inpatient units, including a closed ward for patients in crisis.
The PEMA Centre began providing services on 15th October, following the relocation of the Psychiatric Ward at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH), increasing inpatient capacity from 20 to 36 beds.
The relocation comes as demand for mental health services continues to rise. It also marks a step forward in expanding psychiatric care, with increased bed capacity and dedicated outpatient space for children and adolescents.
Outpatient psychiatric visits doubled from around 10,000 in 2024 to approximately 20,000 in 2025, putting pressure on the former ward, which struggled to accommodate patients with different mental health conditions in a suitable environment.
Patients with conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and substance-related disorders were often accommodated in the same room or unit, despite having different treatment needs.
The former ward also recorded incidents involving patients absconding, aggression and violence.
Between July 2025 and June 2026, it accounted for 34 of the 53 incidents reported across JDWNRH, according to the hospital’s Annual Incident Report Analysis.
To understand how the new centre is addressing these challenges, The Bhutanese spoke with its head, Dr Ngawang Samten.
Dr Ngawang Samten said both inpatient and outpatient services are now being provided from the centre. The inpatient facility has 20 beds in the general ward and 16 in the acute ward.
“Where the patient is admitted depends on the clinical judgment of the psychiatrist. The acute ward is for patients requiring acute services, including alcohol detoxification, acute psychosis and high-risk cases,” he said.
However, separate specialized facilities for children, patients requiring de-addiction services, and open and closed psychiatric care have not been established as initially planned.
Dr Ngawang said these facilities were dropped to accommodate the Response Services of the PEMA Secretariat, which handles services of the National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC). “The specialized services were dropped to accommodate Response services which handle the services of NCWC. We only have general and acute ward for now,” he said.
He said patients would be transferred between the general and acute wards depending on their clinical condition.
Those admitted to the acute ward require treatment to stabilize their condition and manage risks, including harm to themselves or others. Once their condition improves, they may be moved to the general ward for multidisciplinary care.
The centre’s immediate priority is to build staff capacity to manage cases involving children and adolescents. He said the entire ground floor of the outpatient department has been dedicated to child and adolescent services.
He further said the relocation process faced minimal logistical challenges, as both JDWNRH and PEMA supported the transition.
