India witnesses almost 14% of suicide deaths in the world and yet its government-run suicide prevention helpline fails people seeking help. fact checker called KIRAN, a 24X7 mental health helpline under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, more than 40 times over five days from seven states and three Union Territories.
Guess how many times we managed to communicate with a human voice: three times.
fact checker He also contacted eight other non-government hotlines and they all answered our calls. Although, they too had a long list of obstacles they face in helping those experiencing suicidal thoughts. Shortage of funds, lack of volunteers, poor telecommunications network, technical failures, and burnout are some of those many problems.
That’s when the suicide rate in India stood at 12 (per a lakh population) in 2021, the highest in the last two decades, according to fact checker analysis of Accidental deaths and suicides in India 2021 and reports from previous years. Additionally, 21 states crossed this national average of 12.
The suicide rate decreased between 2011 (11.2) and 2017 (9.9). But, in the last five years, the number of deaths by suicide is continuously increasing. The total number of suicide deaths soared by 26.2% from 1.29 lakh in 2017 to 1.64 lakh in 2021.
With 11.3 suicides per lakh of population, the year 2020 saw the highest suicide rate after 2021, indicating that most suicide deaths were related to COVID-19, doctors said. fact checker.
What is KIRAN’s problem?
During a period of five days, fact checker called the KIRAN helpline from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Goa, Maharashtra and Delhi. Some of these states have high suicide rates in the country.
While the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (39.7), Sikkim (39.2) and Chhattisgarh (31.8) have the highest suicide rates in India, the highest number of deaths by suicide was recorded in Maharashtra (22 207), Tamil Nadu (18,925), and Madhya Pradesh (14,965). ).
The three KIRAN helpline calls that were answered were from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The rest did not connect, were busy or did not respond.
Also, the KIRAN Suicide Prevention Helpline is a long number (1800-599-0019), which makes it very inconvenient for an emergency call. The call starts ringing only after around 1:48 minutes.
“A short (3-4 digit) dial code for a national suicide prevention helpline will be easier to spread and advertise, as people are more likely to remember it in an emergency. It should also be a toll-free number,” said Soumitra Pathare, Director of Mental Health Law and Policy, Law Society of India, Pune. fact checker.
Since the government’s only suicide hotline could only be reached three of the more than 40 calls, we asked respondents why they were unavailability.
While the volunteer from Telangana refused to answer fact checker‘s When asked, volunteers from Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh cited labor shortages and technical glitches as reasons why the helpline is not responding.
The volunteer from Maharashtra, while requesting anonymity, said that they are only social workers under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and they have to take calls at odd hours as there are only 10-15 of them for the whole state.
“We are not psychologists, but rehabilitation agents. We are assigned by the government to work as helpline officers as an additional duty on top of our regular job. It is more difficult for us to answer calls at night and in the early hours of the morning,” said the volunteer from Maharashtra.
Similarly, the Chhattisgarh volunteer, an occupational therapist from the ministry, said they were facing a severe shortage of volunteers. The central state has only four volunteers, including a clinical psychologist, the volunteer said.
“I have been answering calls 24 hours a day for the last 15 days. I receive calls while traveling and driving. I have also answered calls after midnight because call traffic is high during that time. It is a 24/7 job and there is no fixed time,” said the volunteer from Chhattisgarh, adding that poor network connectivity and lack of a better technical system are the main obstacles. “During some distress calls, customers ask us for medical advice or prescriptions. We are advised to immediately connect the call with a senior doctor or psychologist. But there is no facility to connect the call to a professional.”
fact checker We contacted officials from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to ask them about the obstacles facing the helpline, but had not yet received a response. When we called Rajeev Kumar, Additional PS to the Union Minister for Empowerment and Social Justice, another official took our call and asked us to email our queries.
We then tried to contact Anjali Bhawra, Secretary of the Disability Department under which the scheme falls, but her office also asked us to write to them. Calls to some other ministry officials went unanswered. Should Fact Checker receive a response, this story will be updated.
Burnout, poor funding
fact checker contacted eight non-government helplines: Vandrevala FoundationSamaritans Bombay, I call him, AASRASahai, Parivarthan Counseling Training and Research Center, SNEHAand Roshny.
Acute labor shortages, underfunding, and burnout were common challenges highlighted by these suicide hotlines.
Johnson Thomas, director of Navi Mumbai-based AASRA, said they had to give up their office due to financial constraints. “Our main challenge right now is that we don’t have an office. We are about 16 volunteers and we all take calls from our homes,” he said.
Similarly, Malini Sridhar, CEO of Parivarthan, said: “As Parivarthan is not a for-profit facility, one of our main challenges is to cover the cost of running a helpline, which is a totally free service.” .
Sailing in the same boat is Samaritans Mumbai, a suicide prevention helpline, which has seen a dropout rate of nearly 40% in the last two years. The organization is also finding it increasingly difficult to pay rent and other expenses for its Mumbai office, which costs around Rs 50,000 a month, said Manohar Rangnekar, deputy director of the helpline.
“During the lockdown, our volunteers answered the majority of calls from their homes. This was really difficult for them because after attending a call they would have to communicate with their family members. When they were at the helpline center they only came to take calls and the stress after a particular call was immediately dealt with by other volunteers at the center,” explained Rangnekar. “Many of our volunteers experience burnout due to the intensity of the calls. After a while, they take a break and eventually leave the organization.”
Another issue that arises from these challenges is helpline hours. With the exception of AASRA, the Vandrevala Foundation, and KIRAN, the other six helplines are only available during certain hours of the day.
The organizations that run these helplines said the most common reasons people called suicide prevention helplines were stress related to exams, romantic relationships and family problems, and debt.
Low budget
The central government allocated Rs 86,200 crore to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the 2022-’23 budget. Of this, Rs 3,200.65 crore is the estimated budget for health research. Of the remaining Rs 83,000 crore, only 0.8% or Rs 670 crore is funds for out-of-pocket spending on mental health.
A large part of this money goes to two institutions: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, NIMHANS, Bengaluru (84% or Rs 560 crore) and Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur (10% or Rs 70 crore). ), according to a analysis by the Mental Health Observatory of India and the Center for Mental Health Law and Policy.
“In most countries, around 5% to 15% of the health budget is allocated to mental health services. In India, this is about 1% percent. We do not allocate a specific budget to suicide prevention,” said Dr. Pathare.
Only 6% of the total mental health budget or Rs 40 crore goes to the National Mental Health Program and this amount has remained unchanged from 2021-22. “The main problem is that the budget of our union government is too low to support social efforts. But the government alone cannot do it. It should come forward to help organizations and individuals who are motivated and committed,” said Vinay Kumar, vice president of the Psychiatric Society of India.
Pathare echoed their views and suggested a national fund for such helplines. “Until now, India has relied heavily on volunteers and the efforts of non-governmental organizations, which are poorly funded. There is a need to adequately fund these suicide prevention helplines; we could possibly establish a national fund to fund such helplines in different states in local languages,” he said.
However, the experts also stressed that fair allocation of funds will not work in the absence of an effective and coordinated strategy to use these funds.
No national strategy
The World Health Organization recommends four evidence-based suicide prevention strategies to governments: reduce access to lethal means of suicide, improve media coverage of suicides, encourage the development of life skills in adolescents and the early identification, treatment, and follow-up of those who exhibit suicidal behavior.
Pathare opined that a national suicide prevention policy can be helpful in setting broad policy direction for suicide prevention, and that specific strategies should be framed at the state level.
“There is an immediate need for a National Suicide Prevention Agency modeled after the National AIDS Control Organization. This agency can not only collect data on suicides and suicide attempts, but can also help state governments design and implement locally relevant suicide prevention strategies. Most importantly, a national agency will be able to achieve cross-sectoral coordination between departments such as health, education, agriculture, social justice, women and children,” suggested Pathare.
Some helpline numbers
This article first appeared on FactChecker.ina fact-checking initiative, which analyzes the veracity and context of statements made by individuals and organizations in public life.
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