ACCORDING to a report by a local English daily, there is a sudden uprise in the rate of suicides in the country, and specialists believe that timely medical intervention can save three-fourths of the lives lost in suicides. They also shared that remedies for preventing suicide are numerous and diverse depending on the victims’ socio-economic conditions.
Major causes that induces suicide are – stress in inter personal relationship, affairs failure, frustrations out of prolonged unemployment, failure in exams, parental rebuke or apathy, social dishonour. In more simple expression, it occurs in a state of mental distressness, but influenced by socio-economic conditions.
According to collected data, only three of the 25 public health facilities treat patients who attempt suicide in Dhaka (Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital and Mitford Hospital). Chances of treatment in any of the 747 private hospitals in the city are slim. The Deputy Director (hospital) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said hospitals are legally bound to treat every patient and the Director General of the DGHS explained that the apathy in treating the patients who attempt suicide, results from the tendency to stay out of legal complexities, leading to police often handling the cases of suicide.
According to recent reports, the 500-bed Mugda General Hospital refused to treat a girl who had been rushed there 15 minutes after she took pesticides. By the time she was taken to DMCH, she died. Statistics say over 2 percent of the suicides – around one million in number – committed globally a year happens in Bangladesh and around 89 percent of the persons attempting suicides in 2010 were women, according to a study of Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital. Between 2001 and 2010, physical and sexual violence provoked almost 5,000 women to commit suicide, revealed another study.
The tragedy of it all is not simply the scores of people committing suicide. It is mainly the fact that these people suffering from various psychological disorders or dealing with trauma are treated more with cruelty than offered a lending hand. Counselling is still seen as a taboo in this country. Fear of harassment by law enforcement make hospitals avoid treating patients in time, leading to unfortunate deaths almost every time.
The government needs to raise awareness about the issue to combat the number of suicides by practicing the prevention is better than cure theory.
Major causes that induces suicide are – stress in inter personal relationship, affairs failure, frustrations out of prolonged unemployment, failure in exams, parental rebuke or apathy, social dishonour. In more simple expression, it occurs in a state of mental distressness, but influenced by socio-economic conditions.
According to collected data, only three of the 25 public health facilities treat patients who attempt suicide in Dhaka (Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital and Mitford Hospital). Chances of treatment in any of the 747 private hospitals in the city are slim. The Deputy Director (hospital) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said hospitals are legally bound to treat every patient and the Director General of the DGHS explained that the apathy in treating the patients who attempt suicide, results from the tendency to stay out of legal complexities, leading to police often handling the cases of suicide.
According to recent reports, the 500-bed Mugda General Hospital refused to treat a girl who had been rushed there 15 minutes after she took pesticides. By the time she was taken to DMCH, she died. Statistics say over 2 percent of the suicides – around one million in number – committed globally a year happens in Bangladesh and around 89 percent of the persons attempting suicides in 2010 were women, according to a study of Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital. Between 2001 and 2010, physical and sexual violence provoked almost 5,000 women to commit suicide, revealed another study.
The tragedy of it all is not simply the scores of people committing suicide. It is mainly the fact that these people suffering from various psychological disorders or dealing with trauma are treated more with cruelty than offered a lending hand. Counselling is still seen as a taboo in this country. Fear of harassment by law enforcement make hospitals avoid treating patients in time, leading to unfortunate deaths almost every time.
The government needs to raise awareness about the issue to combat the number of suicides by practicing the prevention is better than cure theory.
