Curbing rise of suicide motion thrown out of National Assembly

Members of Parliament on Thursday used the escalating rates of suicide and the urgent need to curb it as a political ball to criticise either side of the House when the motion was moved by Dr Vindhya Persaud. The motion was defeated.

Persaud, an Opposition Member of Parliament, stated that the motion gave the National Assembly an opportunity to work together to curb the rising rate of suicide in Guyana.

Currently, Guyana is infamously known as the suicide capital of the world, with a rate of 44.2 per every 100,000 persons. It is estimated that some 200 persons die on average from suicide every year in Guyana.

Although suicide may be disguised as a culture, Persaud indicated that Guyana should not become complacent with the sporadic rises of suicide, rather it should consistently educate persons on valuing their lives.

She stated that suicide is ranked as seventh of the 10 major causes of death in Guyana and the leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 24; and third leading cause of death among ages 25 to 44 years. She lamented that it appears as though suicide was happening every day in Guyana.

Dr Persaud estimated that suicide costs the Public Health Ministry about $600 million to $900 million annually, exclusive of the loss of life, family income and the emotional and psychological grief for the family members. Thus she argued that there is more room for research on suicide and an urgent need to change the law which criminalises it.

She wasted no time pinpointing the deficiencies in the public health sector, which, she says, are contributing to the rise in the epidemic. “The mental health services are inadequate to meet the demand, with only three full time psychiatrists (based in Georgetown and New Amsterdam), insufficient hospital beds and trained personnel in the National Psychiatric Hospital, and no day treatment or community residential facilities, and, inadequate numbers of counsellors, to help and treat patients.”

Further, she stated that there is a scarcity of counsellors in the educational system to provide support to students of all ages. She said accessibility of poisons, especially in rural agricultural communities, also heighten the situation, making it the easiest method of committing suicide in Guyana.

Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan scoffed that the Opposition members would had the audacity to deride major efforts undertaken by the Government on the fight against suicide.

He chided the Opposition, stating that they never saw it fit to implement any of the measures proposed in its motion during its tenure in office. Moreover he stated that the motion is an attempt to pilfer the works the Government, since it included several of the ideas already being carried out by Government ministries.

However, he did agree that the fight against suicide requires a collaborative effort and that he is willing to work along with the Opposition to curb it. Nevertheless, he still casted his vote against the motion, stating that he could not support it in its original form.

Junior Public Health Minister, Dr Karen Cummings griped that the increase of suicide rates did not happen overnight, but has been rising significantly over the last decade and that nothing tangible was administered to deal with it.

She stated that Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) has the largest population of attempted suicides, mounted at 36.8 per cent and although the highest numbers of suicide cases occurred in Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), the prevalence rate is highest in Region Two.

According to Dr Cummings, a mental health unit within the Public Health Ministry has been launched and is manned by a director and staff qualified to deal with the issue.

Meanwhile, Shadow Public Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony stated that if the Government is smart, it would prioritise its interventions to focus on these high-risk groups. He stated that it should pay attention to the geographical location of the problem.

“The Government’s plan has rightfully identified Region Two as having the highest suicide rates (52.7 per 100,000), followed closely by Region Six (50.1 per 100,000) and Region Three (37.3 per 100,000). Yet, the Government’s suicide interventions have been a one size fit all, instead of a custom made solution base on the regions peculiarities and specificities. This must change, to obtain meaningful impact,” he opined.

Similarly, he stated that some efforts have been made to establish a mental health unit, with responsibility for suicide but the unit is housed in a dilapidated building in Quamina Street.

He also lashed out that there is no National Poison Control Centre with a database of information on all toxic chemicals and poisonous substances used in Guyana that will recommend protocols for medical management of these cases.

He added that the criminal prosecution and the imposition of custodial sentences on those who attempted suicide is an insult to human dignity. Decriminalisation is more enlightened and humane way of dealing with the problem, he noted. Thus, he called for the law to be reviewed. Dr Anthony stated that for every case of suicide, they many more people who attempt it. The National Suicide Prevention Plan has estimated that in Guyana for every case of suicide there are 20 to 25 attempted suicides while actual suicide in Guyana varies from year to year but it is estimated that there are about 180 to 200 cases per year. “This I contend is quite high. The truth is I don’t think the Ministry of Public Health has real numbers and this is just a guesstimate,” he said, suggesting that to prevent this from happening in the future the Ministry or some other relevant part of the Government need to establish an attempted suicide registry.