Urgent call for suicide hotline
( 2003-09-12 13:51) (China Daily)
Suicidal residents have been
dialling the police hotline for help as Guangzhou has yet to implement a 24-hour
psychological crisis helpline, reports Yangcheng Evening News.
The police hotline, "110", handles about 500 calls from suicidal people every
year, even though staff answering the phones are hardly qualified to provide
counselling.
One woman told the newspaper that she felt a strong desire to kill herself
every night during a recent distressing period in her life but did not know
where to seek help. She finally worked up the courage to visit the psychiatric
department of a hospital one afternoon but was told the doctors were fully
booked for that day.
"It's really scary. Are we supposed to put our suicidal thoughts on hold
until a day when the doctors can see us?" she asked.
Guangzhou needs to set up a 24-hour suicide prevention hotline urgently, said
Feng Guangyu, director of the Guangdong Psychological Health Institute.
More than 5,000 calls have flooded a similar hotline in Beijing since it was
launched in April.
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