Counselling reduces suicide of Indians in Gulf

Dubai, Aug 4: Of the 269 Indians who committed suicide in the Gulf region last year, Bahrain reported fewer cases of 23 because of counselling by volunteers.

In the six months ending July this year, 10 deaths have been reported to the Indian embassy compared to 14 for the same period last year.

''We are cautiously optimistic that suicide figures in the Indian community will be lower this year,'' said an Embassy spokeswoman.

The reasons for ending one's own life included personal, financial, family and work-related reasons, Bahrain Tribune reported.

The highest number of hundred suicides was in the UAE last year, and, already this year, 69 suicides were reported there.

This was followed by 69 in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and 37 to date this year, followed by 44 and 23 in Oman, respectively.

Bahrain is said to be the only country with a widely publicised volunteer phone-in service, Helpline, with 27 volunteers speaking almost all the Indian languages as well as Arabic, English and Tagalog.

''We have 10 volunteers on 24-hour duty, and, between us, we average about 20 calls a week,'' said one of the founders Vani Krishnan.

An analysis of the suicide victims' background shows they are usually males from the Kerala and mostly Hindus.

UNI

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