Dear Editor,
I write on behalf of Hindus for Selfless Service, a group that has been working in the social field within the Hindu community since 1996, especially among male youths. We participated recently in the The Caribbean Voice’s ‘Suicide Prevention is Everybody’s business,’ and would like to share our perspective on this tragic subject.
As far back as 1997, our group participated in a pioneering seminar on suicide at the Cove and John Ashram. The small sample study that was done for the seminar on the West Coast Demerara, showed that while individuals from all groups committed suicide, it was overwhelmingly a Hindu problem. None of the studies that have been done subsequently, starting from the one by Dr Frank Beckles in 2001 really challenged this finding.
We would like to commend the Government of Guyana for launching several initiatives since that time to address what Dr Ramsammy, then Minister of Health, described as a “public health issue.” Apart from launching a National Council on Suicide Prevention, which was chaired by the late Prakash Gossai, the government introduced several counselling centres especially in Berbice, identified early on as a hotbed for suicide.
Later they worked closely with a Canadian university, Dalhousie, to customise a community based ‘Gatekeepers’ Programme’ to deal with suicide. The Ministry of Health had a team that trained several groups across the country to be alert to signs of potential suicide victims and to make interventions. Our group felt that this was the way to go, since the generally rural based suicide victims did not feel comfortable seeking help in formal settings.
We organised a seminar in 2010 which was addressed by Dr Ramsammy and a Dr Chehill along with several trained health workers. Several members of our group were later trained by the ministry’s team to become Gatekeepers’ trainers of other individuals in the country.
After the elections of 2011, however, the ministry’s suicide unit must have been disbanded because the individuals we used to contact were no longer there. We do not know if this was due to budget cuts.
However, we agree with the organisers of the recent seminar that NGO’s must be the front line in the fight against suicide. We would like to be part of that fight. But we agree also that the ministry must provide the training along with other necessary resources needed in the fight.
Yours faithfully,
Praem Rambharak
Secretary
Hindus for Selfless Service