Dubai: There has been a fall in the number of suicides committed by Indians in Oman last year, a trend that reached alarming proportions in 2013, Indian embassy has said. On an average, five Indians had reportedly committed suicide every month in the Gulf country in 2013 but the number came down to three in 2014, a Times of Oman report said, citing official data.
Social workers and experts, however, say more needs to be done to bring it down further. “In 2013, the number of Indians committing suicide was 54 while in 2014, it came down to 34. In 2012, it was 63,” Indian mission in Muscat replied to a Right to Information Act query.
According to the government data, the number of Indians working in Oman till the end of December 2014 was 603,473 slightly more than in 2013 when it was 599,473. “We can claim that coordinated efforts by the embassy and social groups are bringing in results, but I don’t feel so. More has to be done to have zero results,” a social worker Shameer PTK was quoted as saying by the paper.
An Indian embassy panel lawyer said that there may be a dip in numbers but unfortunately, the trend still exists. “We can say that there is this much percentage dip in the number of suicides among Indians in Oman but the fact is that these are still happening. We cannot see the same trend among people of other nationalities. We should think seriously why it is continuing,” a lawyer empanelled with the Indian embassy Deepa Sudhir, said.
A World Health Organization report published in 2014 said, India accounted for the highest estimated number of suicides in the world in 2012 with a rate of 21.1 per 100,000 people. To address the Indian community’s concerns in Oman, the embassy has a 24/7 emergency helpline and a toll free helpline which are active round the clock.
The emergency helpline of the embassy is a manned service which is attended by the embassy’s community welfare staff. All emergency calls are attended by a senior officer who is responsible for all aspects of the welfare of Indian residents in Oman.
