Azores: Fighting suicide needs more doctors

Suicide prevention and combat in the Azores will only be successful if there is greater investment in hiring psychiatrists and nurses specialized in mental illnesses, argued psychiatrist Henrique Prata Ribeiro in the Azorean parliament.

“More psychiatrists, without a doubt! If we look at the area of ​​child psychiatry, it should be a priority because it is the one where there are fewer professionals”, argued that health professional, during a hearing at the Social Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, meeting in Angra do Heroísmo.

Henrique Prata Ribeiro, who coordinated, for almost two years, the regional structure responsible for defining measures to prevent and combat suicide in the Azores, was heard by the deputies following a proposal by the sole PAN deputy, Pedro Neves, who proposes a new strategy to combat suicide on the islands.

One of the projects that the doctor tried to implement in the region at the time to minimize the lack of health professionals in this area was the creation of a bank of doctors, from the mainland , who would be available to travel to the Azores to provide consultations, but he now recalled that the measure was not widely accepted.

“The doctors’ bank was a list of psychiatrists, who expressed their willingness to collaborate with the Autonomous Region of the Azores, to travel to the region to carry out consultations, but the truth is that there was great reluctance on the part of the service directors to accept this modality”, lamented the psychiatrist.

The lack of psychiatrists in the Azores is a problem that had already been highlighted by Luís Melo, clinical director of the Casa de Saúde de São Rafael, on Terceira Island, who was heard by Azorean deputies in April, regarding the same legislative proposal from PAN.

“The entire region is lacking in psychiatrists. I’m not just talking about psychiatrists. Even nursing professionals, multidisciplinary teams, psychologists, all of these are necessary for holistic psychiatric care,” the health professional argued at the time.

PAN says it is concerned about the high rate of deaths by suicide that occur in the Azores (higher than the national average), and therefore believes it is necessary to create a new strategy to combat mental illness.

“It is urgent to combat the overwhelming suicide rates in the region. We need to create an effective strategy for suicide prevention . A society that is compassionate about mental health issues and their consequences is essential to curb this phenomenon,” the party justifies in the draft resolution submitted to the Legislative Assembly of the Azores.

A study published in 2023, prepared by psychiatrist João Mendes Coelho, on the characterization of the suicidal population, between 2001 and 2021, reveals an increase in the number of suicide cases in the Azores , in contrast to the reduction recorded in the rest of the national territory.

“For the country as a whole, we have 8.9 deaths by suicide per 100,000 inhabitants. Here in the region, we have 14.7 and, specifically for São Miguel, we have 16.4, that is, almost double the rate for the country,” the psychiatrist revealed at the time.