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Consultant Psychiatrist at the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU), Dr. Nadia Wallace has announced that thus far a total of 11 patients attempted suicide this year, and have been admitted to the Psychiatric Unit at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital.<\/p>\n
Her comments came as Dominica observed World Suicide Prevention Day earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom January to December of 2023 there was a total of 11 patients who were admitted to the Acute Psychiatric Unit after having attempted [suicide],\u201d she revealed. \u201cOut of these 11, seven patients were females and four were males.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cThe age range for the females was 15 to 30, while for the males the age range was 14 to 48. And that was in 2023.”<\/p>\n
Dr. Wallace added, \u201cWe are in 2024 right now, we are in September and thus far we had a total of 11 patients who have attempted suicide and have been admitted at the Acute Psychiatric Unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that from the 11 patients this year, seven of them were females and four were males.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe age range for the females was 13 to 28 and the age range for the males was 20 to 35,\u201d Dr. Wallace revealed.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, she announced that the APU has a total of 27 persons who died by suicide within the past five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in 2023 we had seven and this year 2024 we\u2019ve also had seven,\u201d Dr. Wallace revealed. \u201cAnd within the past five years this has been the highest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Wallace said focus must be placed on the question, \u201cWhat can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, PAHO Regional Advisor on Mental health, Dr. Claudina Cayetano asserted that no one should die because of suicide.<\/p>\n
She further stated that suicide is a serious public health problem and if early intervention, identification and suppport is provided people can continue to live life as healthily as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 100,000 people died by suicide in 2019,\u201d she noted. \u201cThat is more than the population in Dominica.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added, \u201cWhen you think of that, because of a condition that can be preventable, it\u2019s really heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Cayetano believes that everyone has a role to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I mentioned to you 100,000 people die before they take their life, before they die by suicide, most times they have attempt up to three times,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consultant Psychiatrist at the Acute Psychiatric Unit (APU), Dr. Nadia Wallace has announced that thus far a total of 11 patients attempted suicide this year, and have been admitted to the Psychiatric Unit at the Dominica-China Friendship Hospital. Her comments…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":328899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[301,17,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-death","category-health","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n