Suicide

It would appear that the department in the Health Ministry that had been tasked with the responsibility for tackling the scourge of suicide in Guyana has itself committed suicide. While Guyana always had a very high rate of suicide, after some sensitisation and studies on the issue at the turn of the century showed conclusively that Guyana had a consistent rate of around 200 (or 25 per 100,000) self−inflicted deaths annually, the Health Ministry gradually became involved. A preponderant number of those persons were males from the rural, Indian-Guyanese communities.

A  National Suicide Prevention Strategy was drafted in 2001 and several “counselling centres” were launched in Region Six. By 2007, the National Committee for Suicide Prevention was formed. Two years later, the Health Ministry in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) hosted a two-day workshop on the “Prevention and Control of Suicide Behaviour” in Georgetown. It included individuals from Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname that were working on the problem in their countries, which had similar demographics.

The then Health Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy was very candid. He pointed out that even though suicide was accepted as an urgent public health issue in the mental health area, there was no significant budgetary support both domestically and from the international agencies such as PAHO. He pointed out that over the past few years there had been “a string of workshops” and the time had come for less talk and more action towards a solution.

After his prompting, for the first time, a programme that involved the community – the “Gatekeepers Programme” – was launched. The Gatekeepers Programme broadened the suicide prevention effort beyond the counselling centres which presumed the potential victim would reach out and seek help. Individuals in the community were to be trained by qualified Health Ministry personnel as “gatekeepers” who could recognise signs of individuals contemplating ending their lives. The “Gatekeepers” would be known in the community.

Studies have shown that once potential suicide victims have been dissuaded away from the act, most of them do not attempt to repeat it. The “secret” of dealing with suicidal behaviour then, is to have the institutional capacity to counsel those that may be contemplating taking their lives, to desist. Statistics in the immediate years following the introduction of the programmes suggest that they may be having a salutary effect. In the last few years, however, the intervention programmes appeared to have died on the vine.

As we wrote last December, we have not heard anything from the National Committee on Suicide Prevention for years and wonder if it is still in existence. While there was news of another counselling centre being opened in Region Six last year, there has been no sustained programme to keep the others going or to inform the communities of their existence.

Reacting to the apparent abandonment of the Health Ministry’s responsibilities towards the mental health issue of suicide, a plethora of private initiatives have recently sprung up in the wake of the rate, now accepted as one of the highest in the world. The latest one is a symposium that will be organised by the Indian Arrival Committee, which is salutary, since their constituents are more than 75 per cent of the victims.

While these private initiatives are very welcome, they cannot substitute for concerted action by the Health Ministry: a national problem demands a national response. Last September, around the annual World Suicide Prevention Day, the major Opposition party suggested that suicide prevention should be higher on the agenda of health priorities in Guyana. We suggested then that the bi-partisan Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services convene an urgent meeting to craft proposals on how to fund and extend the Gatekeepers Programme. But they only flattered to deceive and quickly returned to their war of attrition against the Government. The Health Ministry must rouse itself to act.