Three years into pandemic, Himachal sees 14% decline in suicide cases

The spurt in number of suicides witnessed in the immediate wake of the COVID pandemic due to job loss, poor health, and uncertainty about future, has relented a little, declining by 14 per cent from 889 in 2021 to 758 in 2022.

A total of 2,502 persons committed suicide in the past three years between 2020 and 2022 with a majority of them men at 1,710 and the rest 792 women. As per the data procured from the police department, 709 persons committed suicide in 2019 with the number rising to 855 and 889 in 2020 and 2021 respectively during the peak COVID 19 pandemic.

According to police, the maximum number of people who committed suicide were labourers (28 per cent) followed by housewives (24 per cent), students (11 per cent), private employees (10 per cent), businessmen and government employees (4 per cent each), farmers (three per cent), and others (16 per cent). The suicide cases were attributed to marriage related issue, financial issues, drug addiction, sickness, unemployment, unsuccessful love affairs, and other family problems.

”We had brought the suicide cases under radar and started a Register Number 27 to keep a record of suicide cases and analyse the reasons behind such extreme steps and started interventions through health and social justice department to take remedial measures which has yielded results,” DGP Sanjay Kundu told PTI.

Age profiling of victims revealed that students and those in early marriage life, in the age bracket of 18-35, in addition to those with troubled marriage and hectic professional life, aged 35-50, were more vulnerable to kill themselves. Former Himachal Pradesh State Mental Health Authority (HPSMHA) CEO and mental health expert Dr Sanjay Pathak, who retired on March 31 this year, attributed the tapering of suicide cases to fading of COVID trauma and attendant depression.

The survey conducted by HPSMHA to assess psychological impact during the pandemic in 2021 had revealed that 42.92 per cent of the people were worried about their future and family, 40.46 per cent were stressed due to the financial loss, 50 per cent felt anxious and depressed by reading and watching content regarding pandemic.