Madhya Pradesh will be the first State in the country to draft a suicide prevention strategy and the government has formed a task force it, said State Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang on Saturday.
The task force comprises of a range subject experts such as psychiatrists, legal experts, researchers, academics and social workers. Six sub-committees have been formed to analyse the causative and preventive strategies and the task force has been mandated to submit a report in two months.
“Each sub-committee has been given a specific mandate – such as understanding the sociological factors, suggesting preventive methods, devising ways to raise mass awareness and suggesting newer methods for the training of professionals and individuals. They will also look at how the laws can be strengthened or diluted to improve the situation and understand the inter-sectoral linkages in suicide prevention,” Mr. Sarang told The Hindu.
The names in the task force include Mumbai-based Dr. Harish Shetty and Dr. D. Vijay Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of the National Law Institute University, Bhopal.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2020, a total of 1,53,052 suicides were reported in the country with 14,578 reported from Madhya Pradesh, the third highest in the country, the report adds.
At 9.5%, Madhya Pradesh was the third among the States with the highest percentage of suicides in the country, up from the third place it held in 2018 (8.8%) and 2019 (9.0%). At 17.4%, the suicide rate (instances per one lakh population) was above the national average of 11.3.
On the State’s existing suicide-prevention infrastructure, Mr. Sarang said that the latest initiative was not aimed specifically at Madhya Pradesh but the government viewed the problem as universal and the strategy would suggest measures to reduce the instances everywhere.
“Suicide is undoubtedly a big problem in society and every section of it is affected by it. We witness frequent cases of suicide, and this is definitely linked to mental health. To check this and find a solution to this problem, we have come up with an extensive action plan,” said Mr. Sarang.
