THE East Bank Demerara community of Herstelling was yesterday afternoon left reeling following the discovery of the body of Shyan Mohamed Samad, found hanging from a beam beneath his house.

The body of 37-year-old Shyan Mohamed Samad was discovered by neighbours at about 15:00hs standing in a motionless upright position with a noose around the neck. Upon close examination, they suspected he might have hanged himself; and after getting no response from the house, they alerted his sister who lives in a neighbouring village.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle following the removal of the body, the dead man’s sister, Zalika Samad, said she has no idea what could have led to her brother taking his life. The sister said the deceased lived with their mother, Bibi Samad, called ‘Baba’, and another brother and sister, along with the sister’s two children.

Zalika said that no one was at home at the time of the incident; her mother was out, the other adults were at work, and the children were at the mosque.

The dead man is said to have been unemployed and was supported by his mother.

According to the mother, who was inconsolable, she was away from home with her other son, who had just recently been involved in an accident.

Expressing profound grief, the woman, told this newspaper that she was looking forward to celebrating her 70th birth anniversary this Saturday, only to be greeted with the news of her son’s apparent suicide.

With tears streaming down her face and holding on to Shyam’s only child, 10-year-old Shyaz, the distraught woman also expressed shock that her son would take his own life as there was no indication of depression or any other problem.

She said she prepared his lunch before leaving yesterday morning to go look after her other son’s problem, and upon her return home she found the food eaten and her son hanging from a beam beneath the house.

Several persons from the community and from the local mosque gathered around to console the family on their tragic loss. Some were overheard saying that the man drank heavily.

Recent statistics from the Health Ministry has identified alcohol and depression to be the leading causes of suicide in Guyana, with the highest rate being recorded in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) Statistics provided by the Health Ministry reveals that Region Six is responsible for approximately 40 percent of suicides that occur in the country.

Calls were recently sounded by University of Guyana Pro-Chancellor Prem Misir for remedial action to be taken to tackle the rising incidence of suicide in Guyana. In his weekly column published last month in this newspaper’s Sunday edition, the Pro-Chancellor had called for firmer approaches to be adopted, observing too that a few successful interventions had been taken for this year, but these highlighted the need for more effective prevention interventions based on an application from both sociological and psychological perspectives.

The Ministry of Health had earlier this year noted the rising incidence of suicide in Guyana, and had kick-started the enhancement of its mental health programmes which was supposed to conclude the anti-suicide strategy. Also, the Ministry had announced the training of a number of individuals to deal with the issues of suicide and its prevention.

Upon completion, these trainees will work in the communities where the incidence of suicide are highest, with emphasis on Region 6, as well as Regions 3 (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), 4 (Demerara/Mahaica) and 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) during the course of this year.

The Ministry had also observed that alcohol and other substance abuse are facilitators that lead to suicide, with depression coming a close second.

As it relates to the latter, the Ministry has devised some guidelines involving diagnosis and treatment to be introduced across the primary health care system.