In a bid to arrest the rising incidence of suicide, health workers were informed of the mental, physical, social, economic, and emotional aspects related to the issue at the Gatekeepers training for suicide prevention held in the state capital on Saturday.
Organised by the office of the District Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) at the People's Hospital campus, the training was attended by Community Health Officers, ANMs, and Asha Supervisors.
During the training, Dr. Rajesh Gaur, Dean of People's Medical College, emphasised the importance of working together to tackle the challenge of suicide. He suggested that efforts should begin at the school level.He highlighted the need to promote healthy competition and stressed that in order to prevent suicides, it is essential to maintain both physical and mental health.
Families and society should also be healthy. Health workers must remain vigilant, identify suicidal tendencies in individuals, and provide them with mental and emotional support.Dr. Vaibhav Dubey, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at People's Medical College, Dr. J.P. Agrawal, Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Gandhi Medical College, Senior Clinical Psychologist and Director of "Digdarshika" Sumit Rai, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at People's Medical College Dr. Vinod Kumar Sahu, Nodal Officer for the District Mental Health Programme Dr. RK Bairagi, and Clinical Psychologist at the District Hospital Bhopal Rahul Sharma, were also present.District CMHO Dr. Prabhakar Tiwari said that under the mental health programme, over 500 field health workers have already been trained in two sessions for suicide prevention.