Dear Editor,
Further to your article on page 3 of the Tuesday, November 10 edition, where the suggestion of an antidote to accidental or deliberate poisoning should be made known, is one that I had thought about.
It seems we have been aware of the high suicide rate in Guyana for a while but have got lost commissioning various studies without a good statistical base and forming various groups with no noticeable impact.
My first suggestion would be to decriminalize suicide so better statistics can be obtained; from this we would get a clearer idea of who and where this is happening. A more humane approach/plan of action involving social workers/counselling could hopefully be instituted. I think we would not be surprised to find that suicides are higher among the rural population where the levels of poverty are higher and educational levels are lower (and contributing to the former).
Because there is no quick fix for these two structural problems, my next practical suggestion would be for this to be common knowledge; it is crucial that treatment be administered during the first hour after ingesting the poison.
An over-the-counter medication that is available or should be made available is activated carbon (a quick phone call revealed the cost of $30 for a tablet).
It appears to me that the victim suffers remorse after an impulsive action and my next suggestion is that a supply of these tablets be given to a few responsible people within a village for quicker access before being taken to the hospital. The police unfortunately are sadly lacking in timely responses and local health centres may not be open during vulnerable times.
Yours faithfully,
Dionne Fries
