Sambalpur: Western Odisha recorded a four-fold increase in suicides during the first six months of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, according to a study carried out by the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla.
Between April 1 and September 30, 2020, Western Odisha reported 891 deaths, out of which 340 were deaths by suicide, according to the study. This means, deaths by suicide accounted for 38.2 per cent of all deaths during these six months.
“This is quite higher than the 9.4 per cent suicide cases that had come for autopsy over a seven-year period,” Dr Gitarani Choubey was quoted by a newspaper as saying. She is one of the authors of the study which has been published in Cureus Journal of Medical Science.
“The objective of our study was to describe the epidemiology of suicides during the early lockdown period. We analysed autopsy reports for six months during the lockdown period starting April 1, 2020,” she said.
Other researchers who were part of the study are Dr Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, Dr Subrat Pradhan, Dr Ashok Kumar Panigrahi, Dr Smita Kumari Panda, Dr Satya Sai Panda, Dr Swetlana Panda and Dr Sushree Behera.
The study found that 39.8 per cent of the suicide victims were in their 30s.
According to the study, 238 or 70.1 per cent of the deaths were by poisoning, followed by hanging (11.8 per cent), burns (6.8 per cent), jumping from a building (6.5 per cent) and jumping in front of train (4.13 per cent).
The study said that there is gross underreporting of suicide and attempted suicide cases in the country owing to various factors including Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes it a punishable offence.
