Tag: suicide

“Trinidad and Tobago has the third highest suicide rate in the English-speaking Caribbean after Guyana and Suriname.” Dr Roshan Parasram, Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health – Tuesday, March 7, 2017)

It is estimated that up to 200 persons a year commit suicide in T&T. Dr Parasram made the above statement at a recent Media Sensitisation Workshop on Responsible and Ethical Media Reporting on Suicide and Self-Harm at the Hilton Trinidad.
As reported in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian on March 9, he said “data showed that in T&T the number of males who died by suicide is approximately five times more than the number of females. Research suggests that while males are more likely to complete suicide, females are more likely to attempt suicide…in the last ten years the highest number of suicides was in the 25 to 34 age group.

At the funeral of Dana Seetahal SC two Thursdays ago, President Anthony Carmona quoted the 17th Century English poet, John Donne, who said: “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.” Dana’s death certainly diminishes us. May her soul rest in peace.

The morning after her funeral, while we were all still reeling from the tragic loss of this bright star, we were greeted by the news that 13-year-old Devindra Boodoo, who was supposed to sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam, was discovered by his 11-year-old sister, Nirmala, hanging in the bathroom of their home in El Socorro on the Wednesday evening.