DOH: Increase of Suicide Cases ‘Alarming’

The Department of Health (DOH)7 on Tuesday expressed alarm over the increasing suicide incidents this year mostly in urban centers in Central Visayas.

Dr.Robert Cañete, Training Officer, Medical Specialist II, Department of Psychiatry, Center for Behavioral Science at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), during the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) Forum at the DOH regional office revealed that depression is a factor which usually lead an individual to commit suicide.

Cañete said there are two kinds of depression, the minor and major depression. She explained that minor depression can easily be medicated by anti-depressants treatment, while the major depression usually placed the patient into a dangerous situation, if nobody from his close family members, relatives and friends could convince him regarding the evil of suicide.

According to Cañete that based on his study in psychiatry, most of the suicide victims are married and single men than women on the same status. But this time Cañete he said he has no record on any consumated suicide cases “because some of them are not properly reported to our office after they died.”

At the VSMMC, suicide cases are remarkably higher this year compared to last year, causing alarm to the mental department of the said government hospital, Cañete stressed.

Cañete explained that they have treated at least 200 minor cases of depression at the Office of the Psychiatric Department (OPD) at VSMMC monthly which number is equivalent to 10 per cent among the total cases of this suicidal attempt reaching the said hospital.

But he reiterated that the hospital has no record on all major depression cases which led to the suicidal death of the victims.

Cañete said symptoms of an individual who want to voluntarily cut off his life, are those who are in major depression because of insomnia due to problems, loss of food appetite, not like to talk to anybody, loss urge on sex.

He said if nobody would guard the patient, some of them will probably decide to use gun, rope, poisonous materials and everything which could immediately put him to the real rest, which is death.

So with this problem, the DOH is studying now to make any interventions to stop this kind of mental problem of the modern society.