The Department of Psychiatry, headed by Dr. Minakshi N. Parikh — who also serves as Dean of B. J. Medical College — offers 8 postgraduate seats annually. The department is staffed by six faculty members and 24 resident doctors, and operates two clinical units providing outpatient services, indoor admissions in G3 ward, and round-the-clock psychiatric emergency cover.

The department is defined by an ethos of empathetic listening, accurate diagnosis, optimal management and consistent follow-up. Standard operating procedures ensure that residents at every level of training contribute meaningfully to patient care, while clinical responsibility is collectively shared and ultimately held by the head of department. The guiding principle — “Patient care must not be compromised” — is upheld across the team.

The department is a forerunner in the state in several areas, including Specific Learning Disorder certification, Gender Dysphoria referral assessments, and academic research. It is the only Psychiatry department in Gujarat with a dedicated Child and Adolescent Psychiatry section. A walk-in student counselling centre has been established within the B. J. Medical College premises, and the department also runs an active Tobacco Cessation Centre, a De-addiction service frequented by individuals with alcohol use disorder, and the only EEG clinic on the Medicity campus — which caters to patients referred from across the hospital and from other states.

Outreach work includes public lectures, media engagement and community awareness initiatives. The department also delivers structured academic activities for its own postgraduates and undergraduates, alongside trainees in physiotherapy, audiology, occupational therapy, orthotics and nursing. Candidates from other institutes regularly enrol for observerships, and faculty maintain a robust research agenda. Together, these elements create an environment of nurturing, learning and steady growth — both for patients and for the next generation of mental-health professionals.