PER 100,000 people, 44.2 in Guyana commit suicide, making this country’s suicide rate the highest-per capita-in the world. This figure is saying to us that there is a health crisis on our hands that needs to be treated as such. With a population of approximately three-quarters of a million occupying 83,000 square miles, this country is not only underpopulated, but every citizen is vital and important. Apart from the stated, there is universal acceptance that everyone has a right to life — which is guaranteed in the Guyana Constitution — and this includes being able to reach the age of life expectancy and having access to the quality of life and care that would ensure so. Guyanese life expectancy should not be seen in isolation of global trends that see people living longer with the right environment, access to proper healthcare and good lifestyle choices, and where governments in leading the way, set the tone and collaborate with organisations and citizens to make it happen.
It had to have been a chilling feeling to those who had loved ones, known of someone, or care about those who have taken or attempted to take their lives, to hear the comments made in the National Assembly on August 4 by none other than a medical doctor, who it is reasonable to accept would know differently. The Opposition PPP/C, through Member of Parliament Dr. Vindhya Persaud, brought a motion to the House to address the rise in the suicide rate. If suicide is seen from the perspective that this country is losing a segment of its population through absence of mental wellness and everything possible ought to be done to address this, any individual, group or organisation with proposal (s) to arrest the situation should be entertained.
To both the PPP/C and APNU+AFC administrations’ credit suicide has been placed on the national agenda. There is no interest in debating which government is better in this regard or more to be blamed for suicide, since this does not help those who seek the help and where the primary focus ought to be. Sufficeth to say that Dr Persaud is not only a medical practitioner and politician, but also a leading member in the Hindu community. The goodly doctor would be aware of the pains this issue brings to the affected and was arguably best poised to present a cogent and ironclad case of impressing on her colleagues in the House, including across the aisle and those paying attention, to the seriousness of the issue and need to address same in like manner.
When in making the presentation, the world was told that the heart-rending statistic has to do with what the MP considers the “impact of daily hardships fuelled by a stagnant economy; the curse of unemployment, especially among youths in rural communities; the shameful and hurtful indiscriminate firing or laying off of persons; the poor state of the rice industry, and that all these negatives, are manifested in the spate of suicides that threw this nation asunder as the year 2016 begun,” the golden opportunity to display compassion for the vulnerable and their loved ones was crushed.
Dr Persaud is not new to politics, how society functions, data arrived at and analysed, but sufficeth to say eight months of a new administration cannot be responsible for what she has so claimed. For instance, a national unemployment rate of 21 percent, equally as having almost half of the young demographic, who make up approximately three-quarter of the population, being unemployed did not happen in eight months, though they become the responsibility of the present government to address.
That having been said, where members of the Opposition made known what they think are the causative factors of suicide, management, deficiencies and recommendations, these should not be ignored. No group or individual has the monopoly on knowledge of this issue. And if, the PPP/C Government left a 2014 Mental Health Strategic Plan and the National Suicide Prevention Plan 2015—2020, these should be examined and where applicable or relevant be implemented. In the meantime, persons are continuing to lose their lives through suicide. They need our unequivocal support to avoid seeing suicide as the means to cope with challenge(s) facing them. A few days ago 18-year old police constable Sham Kumar Persaud hanged himself. Annan Boodram of ‘ The Caribbean Voice’ in a very telling letter, which this newspaper carried on 8th August, not only recounted the complexities facing someone who wanted to end his life and was seeking help, but also included what he considers deficiencies in addressing the matter.
There are other organisations and individuals, home and in the diaspora, who are helping in whatever way they can, including offering proposal(s) to manage the problem and all voices and help, providing done properly, are needed. Suicide is a national and global problem. The Government, Opposition, other political parties, civil society and citizens must see it as a collective problem with a collective responsibility to fix. In pursuit of this, the politics of scoring points and hitting low blows should be suppressed.