Indians Make Up The Majority Of The Suicide Victims In Oman

Indians make up the majority of the suicide victims in Oman, new data has revealed. According to data released by the Public Prosecution, Indians made up 15 out of the 25 suicides registered in 2016. Ahmad Al Kharousi, a sociologist, said that suicide cases are most common among those belonging to blue-collar workers who have low wages. “Low wages and unpaid bank loans are the common triggers for suicide, thinking that they would be relieved of the burden,” Al Kharousi told Gulf News. He stressed that more campaigns were needed to help people cope with psychological illnesses.

“Giving those with financial burden access to entertainment could bring down the suicide rate,” he said. Article 274 of Omani Penal Law prohibits people from committing suicide or attempting suicide or even aiding or abetting someone to commit suicide. Violators will face jail-term of up to five years.

Nasser, whose 27-year-old brother killed himself two years ago, said that his brother took his life after he was suspended from university because of low grades. He committed suicide in his room slitting the veins in his hands with a razor. He was found in a pool of blood,” Nasser said. “It was the saddest moment in my life when the phone rang to inform us that my brother committed suicide. He was a kind-hearted person. I sorely miss him,” he said.

Globally, cases of depression have ballooned by almost 20 percent in a decade, making the debilitating disorder linked to suicide the leading disability worldwide, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

By 2015, the number of people globally living with depression, according to a revised definition, had reached 322 million, up 18.4 percent since 2005, the UN agency said. “These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries to rethink their approaches to mental health and to treat it with the urgency that it deserves,” WHO chief Margaret Chan said in a statement.

According to the agency’s definition, depression is more than just a bout of the blues. It is a “persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that people normally enjoy, accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities for two weeks or more.”.

Twenty-five suicides were registered in Oman in 2016, down from 30 in 2015. Males made up 90 percent of the registered suicides in 2016 — five were Omani.

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