ILOILO CITY -- Suicide issues should not be taken lightly as data showed increasing and alarming cases not only in Western Visayas but globally, according to the Department of Health (DOH) official here.
"Don’t be complacent. Take it seriously when they say that they want to take suicide,” said Dr. Mary Ann Sta. Lucia, DOH 6 regional violence and injury prevention alliance (VIPA) coordinator, during Monday’s press conference.
Violence and injury cuts across the mental health program because 80 to 95 percent of people committing suicide have mental conditions, led by cases of depression, she added.
The online national electronic injury surveillance system (ONEISS) showed that in the third quarter of 2014, Western Visayas ranked third in terms of hanging or strangulation cases and moved up to number one in the fourth quarter of the same year.
The region remained at the top spot during the first two quarters of 2015 and went back to the third slot in the third quarter of the same year and second and fourth quarter of 2016.
In 2016, the Iloilo City Police Office (ICPO) recorded 13 suicide cases with a 19-year old male as the youngest victim and a 63-year old male as the oldest.
From January to June this year, ICPO recorded five cases, the youngest was a 22-year old male and the oldest was a 74-year old male.
Sta. Lucia said Western Visayas is ready to respond to possible cases of suicide with an intensive advocacy that was launched two years ago.
Western Visayas ranks third in the country in terms of number of psychiatrists. The region has around 50 with more than half based in Iloilo, she said.
Health officers of local government units (LGUs) were also trained under the mental health global action program of the World Health Organization. Some 70 to 80 percent of the municipal health officers have been trained under the program since 2014.
“This is designed to bring the psychiatrist down to the municipal or city level,” she said. “With that, we decongest the number of psychiatric cases going to the hospitals,” she added.
She said Western Visayas has only two government hospitals providing service to psychiatric patients. These are the Western Visayas Medical Center and the Pototan Mental Hospital.
For adolescents, those with issues can access the Adolescent Health Connect (AH Connect) where a trained counselor is willing to listen to their woes.
Of the 285 calls and texts messages received by the AH Connect, 16 were issues on mental health, said Jema Dignadice, officer-in-charge of the AH Connect.
Moreover, VIPA has responders for all kinds of rescue. She said that the conduct of a suicide prevention forum in schools is marked by a simulation exercise with the help of the Philippine National Police (PNP) negotiation team, special weapon and tactics (SWAT), and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) special rescue unit.
The BFP has a suicide rescue inflatable bag that can reach as high as a seven-storey building.
Sta. Lucia emphasized the need for everyone to be aware of the warning signs if ever a person has a tendency to commit suicide. These include dramatic change in mood, behavior or appearance; giving away of valued possession; life-threatening behavior; dark themes in music or artwork; history of suicide; and loss of important persons through death, break-up or suicide.
WHO disclosed that worldwide, one person commits suicide every 40 seconds. For each suicide, there are likely to be more than 20 suicide attempts.
More than 800,000 die every year due to suicide. (PNA)
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