Ranchi, Feb. 25: The state government, after pleading with Bihar to clear arrears accumulated over the past four years, today imposed a blanket ban on treatment of all mentally-ill patients from that state at the Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (Rinpas).

The ban will be effective from March 1.

A notice at the Rinpas today said over the years, Bihar has grossed Rs 32 crore as dues. Patients from Bihar do not have to pay anything for treatment as the government of that state has taken the responsibility to clear the dues.

?Since medical dues, aggregating Rs 32 crore, has so far remained unpaid by Bihar, free treatment of mentally-ill patients from Bihar and their admission at Rinpas, stand revoked,? the notice said.

The notice, however, adds that Rinpas would continue to render its service to all patients from Bihar and other states who pay for the services.

Patients from Jharkhand, it added, will have to produce proof of domicile to claim free treatment.

Insiders told The Telegraph that though patients from Bihar occupied nearly half of the 500 seats at Rinpas, no payment has been received from Bihar since 1998. The dues, in February, 2004, stood at Rs 28 crore.

Bihar chief secretary K.A.H. Subrahmaniam, told The Telegraph over phone from Patna that he was unaware of the developments at Rinpas.

?This is news to me. I will look into it immediately and find out what went wrong,? the chief secretary said.

Sources added that while Bihar topped the list with Rs 32 crore, Meghalaya?s dues stood at Rs 6 crore and Arunachal Pradesh Rs 2 crore.

Rinpas director P.K. Chakrabarty said no rules have ever been framed for the purposes of admitting patients.

?Patients coming to us are examined by our doctors first and admission to Rinpas is granted on a strict case to case basis. No proof of domicile or any other certificate was previously demanded by us,? Chakrabarty said.

He revealed that of the 500 available beds, almost half are are occupied by patients from Bihar.

?All Bihar patients currently admitted in Rinpas will continue to receive our attention as before. We just cannot throw them out of our wards and into the streets. The new rule shall become applicable for all new cases effective March 1,? he said.

Set up in 1925, Rinpas was meant to cater to the mentally-ill patients from eastern and north-eastern India.