‘Doctors are vulnerable to suicide too’

By Olaitan Ganiu

The stressful conditions in the medical profession have made its members highly vulnerable to suicide, the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State chapter, Dr. Saliu Oseni, has said.

He stated this during the  global Physicians’ Week.

Oseni said suicide, which was thought to be rare in this environment, had been increasing and has recently become a common in Nigeria. He added that suicide is among the top 10 causes of death in every country and one of the top three killers of youths between 15 and 34 and that cases of attempted suicide are 20 times as common as completed suicide.

He further said it was predicted that 153 million people would die of suicide, that is one in every 20 deaths. The incidence in Nigeria is about 10/100,00.

“Depression, alcohol abuse, anti-social behaviour, mental illness, sexual and physical abuse, poor peer relation, family discord, broken homes, family history are all predominant risk factors,” he said.

Oseni hinted that the implementation of the new Mental Health the Act would be monitored by the NMA and would go a long way in helping to curb this menace while the need to create policies around early medication attention to victims of suicide attempts would also help in reducing the incidence of completed suicide.

NMA National President, Dr. Francis Adebayo Faduyile,  noted that the theme for the year was chosen to bring to fore issues affecting Nigerians,who suddenly found themselves in traumatic situations. According to him, the government has not deemed it pertinent to accord the desired attention and value to ‘unknown patients.’

“There is a lack of commitment to the implementation of the National Health Act (enacted in 2014), which provided for the care of patients in emergency situations, including those with identity challenge; no enduring policy to cater for victims of road traffic accident (a major cause of morbidity and mortality) which accounts for large numbers of unknown patients,” he said.

While emphasising that though there is a provision of Fund for emergency care within the framework of NHA 2014, Faduyile said the disbursement procedure is ambiguous.

“While appreciating the Federal Government for the release of the one per cent Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), part of which should be channelled to the treatment of emergency conditions, it is sad to note that the Federal Ministry of Health is yet to put a template in place for judicious use.”