The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said that the city’s suicide prevention center and the Primary Care Association have joined hands, adding more than 2,000 primary care physicians to the center’s network to help raise public awareness of depression, recognize warning signs of suicide and provide helpful resources toward prevention.
The suicide mortality rate in Taipei was 11.4 per 100,000 people in 2016, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said, adding that the figure was lower than the national average of 16, but still meant an average of 300 suicides each year in the city over the past five years.
“While suicide prevention measures in Taipei have been relatively effective compared with other cities and counties, we are still considering how we could do even better,” he said.
About half of suicides sought medical attention within one month before committing the act, Ko said, adding that in some cases, they experienced physical problems, such as insomnia or headaches, while others were depressed.
“If warning signs of suicide had been observed when these people sought treatment from a professional primary care doctor, the cases could have been reported to the suicide prevention network established by the city’s health and social welfare departments, possibly preventing the act,” he said.
People aged 20 to 29 were most likely to be involved in high-suicide-risk cases last year and the majority suffered from relationship problems or depression, center division head Tseng Guang-pei (曾光佩) said.
Primary Care Association secretary-general Lee Chia-hsiang (李家祥) said he last year treated a man who was experiencing symptoms of the common cold.
The man said he could not sleep well and felt depressed because his business was not making money, Lee said.
Lee prescribed medication for cold and insomnia symptoms and told the man to come back after a week for another checkup, he said.
He learned that the patient had committed suicide when the man’s wife came to apply for medical records for insurance a month later, Lee said.
“He might have been saved if I had been more aware of the signs, and given him more care and attention,” Lee said, adding thatphysicians can play an important role in detecting warning signs of suicide and providing professional assistance.
People can examine their mental health condition by using the five-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale on the suicide prevention center’s Web site (http://tspc.health.gov.tw/test2.html), call the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s free hotline at 0800-788-995 or contact Taipei’ 1999 hotline (extension 8858) when in need of advice, the health department said.
Ko said that the center has received more than 52,000 calls since it was established in 2009.
Hopefully, with the addition of active detection of suicide signs by primary care physicians, the prevention network will become even more effective in saving lives, he said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai