PARLIAMENT | There has been an increase in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts among teenagers as measured between 2012 and 2017, says health deputy minister Dr Lee Boon Chye.
"The National Health and Morbidity study in 2017 has found that [...] among teenagers aged 13 to 17 years old, there is an increasing trend of the prevalence of suicidal thoughts, that is 10 percent in 2017 compared to 7.9 percent in 2012," Lee said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question from RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong), who had asked what measures were the Health Ministry taking to reduce the increasing suicide incidents in the country.
Lee (above) said that there were a total of 356 reported suicide cases between 2014 and June this year based on statistics from the police.
In an effort to deal with this problem, he said the Health Ministry offered mental health services at 60 government hospitals, 1,001 health clinics and 25 mental health community centres nationwide.
He said those with mental health issues could also seek help through the toll-free Befrienders hotline at +603 7956 8145.
People with depression or under stress were more likely to first turn to those close to them like their family and friends for help before approaching psychiatrists, Lee said.
As such, it was very important to build the capacity of the community to detect and help those who were struggling with mental health issues, he said.
He also said there were currently efforts to decriminalise attempted suicide bids.
Attempting suicide is a crime under the Penal Code right now and as such the number of reported suicides was likely to be inaccurate, he noted.
Once the decriminalisation of attempted suicides is done, Lee said the ministry hoped to re-launch the National Suicide Registry by 2020.
The registry was first opened in 2007 but was closed in 2009. It was meant to be a record of suicide deaths in Malaysia. - mkini
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