Pune’s state-run Sassoon General Hospital has some alarming update about the COVID-19 lockdown!
The hospital reported a rise in the number of ‘suicides by hanging’ during the lockdown!
Unlike the usual rate of 20-25 cases in a month, the hospital has seen around 108 cases in the last three months of lockdown time.
While April saw 29 such cases, the number went up to 40 in May and already 39 in the first 15 days of June 2020.
“Usually, in a month, 20-25 suicides by hanging are reported on an average, and our data shows a rise during the lockdown period,” says Dr. Naresh Zanjad, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital.
Experts see the lockdown’s significant impact, directly and indirectly, on the increasing rate of ‘suicides by hanging’, besides various other reasons.
The data records from government and private hospitals in Pune confirm this fact based on the number of mental health distress calls they received to their helplines during the lockdown period.
Sassoon Hospital authorities say that they have been receiving an increasing number of distress calls to their helpline ‘Manasamvad’.
“From 15 calls per day initially, the number has risen to more than 25. Not just the city and surrounding areas, but people call us from various parts of the state,” says Dr. Niteen Abhivant, Head of Psychiatry Department, B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital.
Dr. Abhivant says they have received more calls from housewives, who spoke about financial and day-to-day challenges to meet needs during the pandemic.
The medical professional further explains that they are continuously talking to the isolated COVID-19 patients, especially those feeling stressed about the disease.
Even the state-run Emergency Medical Services like ‘108’ has received 3,569 calls pertaining to intoxication and self-inflicted injuries, among others, during the March-May period.
Connecting NGO, an organization that works for suicide prevention, says they have received a total of 302 distress calls and emails too. The callers spoke about joblessness, relocation, business losses and more.
“While the organization received about 15 distress emails per month before the pandemic, it received 26 emails in May,” says Sataravala, Programme Coordinator of Connecting NGO.
