What is it about?
This is a study of hospital records of all patients in Ampara health region (10 hospitals) during a three month period in 2009, who were admitted after taking a poisonous substance, presumably in order to harm or kill themselves. We explored how many had tried, and what their characteristics, such age and sex, are like and what substances they had taken. We also compared these findings with national figures.
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Why is it important?
Previously nobody has studied self-poisoning this way in Ampara. We have many studies and statistics about suicides, but little about attempts of self-poisoning that did not end up in death. Furthermore, as Ampara did not have any private hospitals at that time, and all the government hospitals in the region were included in the study.
Perspectives
When I worked from 2008 to 2010 as the very first Consultant Psychiatrist at Ampara General Hospital, I strongly felt the self-poisoning phenomenon merits further study. Mainly due to the insight that this is a largely preventable tragedy. I also felt that people in Ampara, no longer only take agrochemicals to harm themselves, but were beginning to use overdoses of prescription medication at an increasing rate.
Dr. Mahesh Rajasuriya
University of Colombo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A descriptive study on self-poisoning in Ampara, Ceylon Medical Journal, March 2012, Sri Lanka Journals Online (SLJOL),
DOI: 10.4038/cmj.v57i1.4208.
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