The 1,200-bed hospital is located at Ywar Thar Gyi Ward in East Dagon Township.
[2] The long history of psychiatric care in Myanmar started in 1886 when the British authorities built a "prison for the insane" near the City Prison in Rangoon (later known as Yangon) in order to merely contain the mentally ill people, starting with 50 inmates.
In 1926 soon after the First World War, a new facility named Tadagalay was established at 8 miles from Yangon, with 250 residents.
The asylum was named after a village nearby called Tadagalay which means a small bridge.
Dr. Walter Chit Tun, one of Burma's First Great Myanmar and a Burmese movie star served as Superintendent of Rangoon Mental Hospital (Tadalay) before 1947.