24-year-old woman suffering from blood cancer committed suicide by jumping from the 12th floor of Bombay Hospital's MRC building early on Sunday. The incident comes a few weeks after a 42-year-old HIV+ man killed a patient at the hospital. Hospital spokesperson Dr Sagar Sakle said, "The patient was admitted to Bombay Hospital on May 16. She wasn't even in the advance stage of cancer and neither did she show any signs of depression. She jumped from the window around 2 am. " The hospital is now in the process of putting safety grills in all windows to prevent any such incident in future.
In the last week alone, three people committed suicide at hospitals due to their ill health. These incidents highlight the need for providing psychiatric counselling to chronically-ill people (See Box). Psychiatrists say chronic diseases like cancer and tuberculosis create fear in patients. While psychiatric counselling is given much importance to help patients confront with reality in foreign countries, majority of these patients don't get counselling in India.
Dr Vasant Mundra, psychiatrist at PD Hinduja Hospital, said: "Chronic illnesses have various consequences and limitations. Different aspects of life get compromised due to chronic illness. In addition to this, the disease has effect on brain tissue. Medications too produce a change in our brain chemistry. This results in patients developing emotional disorder varying from adjustment disorder to suicidal depression to total psychotic.
"According to studies, 25 percent of the general population develops some or the other psychiatric disease at some time or the other in life. "Considering this percentage, one in two chronic illness patients will require professional help. It is extremely important for the treating team to be aware of psychiatric problems in chronically-ill patients and be able to pick up the early sign which can then be treated," said Dr Mundra. Echoing Dr Mundra's views, Dr Harish Shetty, senior psychiatrist at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, said: "Both patient and his/her family needs psychiatric counselling. Family support and good counselling help the cancer patient fight the disease bravely. Corporate hospitals also have their support group of patients where the group shares each other's problem as well as ways to deal with them. But it is unfortunate that not all chronic patients receive that kind of attention and psychiatric complicationscan be missed."
PAST DEATHS -
May 28 : A 29-year-old patient at Sewree Tuberculosis hospital slits his throat. Later, he succumbs to the injuries.
May 26: A 30-year-old sweeper, a MDR-TB patient, working at the Sewree TB hospital kills himself
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