The State Health Department has been able to counsel and save the lives of over 2,800 persons who reported repeated suicide attempts or self-harm in five general hospitals in Bengaluru. This counselling is part of a project taken up under the National Health Mission (NHM) in collaboration with NIMHANS.
September 10 is observed as World Suicide Prevention Day. In India, as many as 1,64,033 suicides were reported in 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report. This is an increase of 7.2% in comparison to the previous year in terms of total numbers. At 12%, the rate of suicide (the number of suicides per one lakh population) in 2021 was the highest since 1967.
The project titled “Urban Self-HArm Study” (USHAS) involves assessment and intervention to reduce suicide intent and future attempts among survivors of such attempts. From October 1, 2022, when the project was initiated, till August 31, 2023, as many as 2,866 individuals have reported self-harm or previous attempts to end lives at five hospitals — Victoria, Bowring and Lady Curzon, Jayanagar General, K.C. General and C.V. Raman. These included 1,390 females and five transgenders.
