For the fourth successive year — 2011 to 2014 — the Union Territory of Puducherry has been found to have the highest rate of suicide in India, according to data on the ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2014’ published by the National Crime Records Bureau of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The rate refers to the number of suicides per one lakh population, and Puducherry has a rate of 40.4, at four times the national average of 10.6. With a total of 644 cases of suicide, it is a significant increase from 546 in 2013.
Worryingly enough, health professionals say the data only refers to police and government hospital records, leaving out private hospitals. The numbers, therefore, are likely to be much higher, they say.
Reasons unclear
While family problems (other than marital) accounts for 35.4 per cent share of the suicides in the UT, there appears to be little information on what could have been the reason in 265 cases, where they are simply stated as ‘other causes’.
In 57 cases (40 men), the cause remains unknown. While in 7 cases, mental illness was stated to be the reason, in 59 cases it was found to be ‘prolonged illness.’
Drug abuse or addiction was cited as the reason in 12 cases of men committing suicide. Puducherry had lower number of suicides owing to causes like bankruptcy, marriage-related issues, failed love affairs, poverty, property disputes, the death of dear ones, unemployment and career-related issues, according to the report.
A majority of those who had committed suicide were found to have an income of below Rs. 1 lakh per annum. Also of significance is the fact that 113 men were daily wage earners. Among the 152 women, 59 were housewives. These underline the urgent need to study causes in greater detail. The gaps could probably explained by alcoholism, which a paper, ‘Study of life expectancy in urban Pondicherry’ in 2014 by a team from the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Jipmer, termed as a ‘medico-social problem’ in Puducherry, and linked to suicide rate here.
Doctors working in the field of mental health often cite alcoholism among men leading to domestic violence and suicide attempts by women and children. A localised, detailed study is required in Puducherry to assess the actual risk factors, and produce data which looks at differential results in rural and urban areas, they say.
Step up prevention measures
For a place with the highest rate of suicide, there also appears to be very little in place in terms of prevention measures. Doctors working in the area of mental health here say that there are only around 50 trained psychologists in Puducherry. As far as support systems go, Maitreyi, which is affiliated to Befrienders India, is the only non-governmental organisation working in the area of suicide prevention here.
“We need a major awareness drive involving the government, NGOs, communities and society to reduce the number of suicides. Earlier, counselling was offered at the Women’s Commission but that is not present anymore. While our volunteers share the stress faced by people who call our helpline or approach us, we do not offer professional counselling as such,” says C. Rajavelu, director of Maitreyi.
Dr. Anand Lingeswaran who has published an editorial, ‘Suicide in Puducherry, India: A Public Health Burden’ in the Indian Journal of Psychology Medicine in 2012 says that suicide must be considered a public health issue as it affects a large number of people. “If one person attempts suicide, every one in the family is affected. If the person dies, his neighbourhood and society at large are affected. Suicide certainly contributes a large proportion to the public health burden,” he says. He adds, “Suicide is a multifactorial complex problem, and requires a multi-pronged approach.”
