LETTER | Ikram Academia Malaysia gives serious attention to the news reports on suicide that have been circulated extensively on social and print media. 

It gives a picture of the declining mental and emotional health of Malaysians during the pandemic. 

The pandemic situation and the lockdown have given rise to negative effects on all citizens, especially to those who face mental and physical health problems, economic downturn, domestic issues, interpersonal problems and psychosocial vulnerabilities. 

The Health Ministry has also reported that the number of calls on the psychosocial support line kept increasing daily.

We call on all stakeholders to cooperate in the short time and long term plans as follows.

Short-term recommendations

1. To synergise efforts between mental health professionals and religious personnel like imam, religious teachers, priests, monks, nuns, and spiritual healers to enable mutual respectful cooperation. All of them must be equipped with the skills to identify signs of depression and the risk of suicide and to connect the people with the help they need.
   
2. To use the Friday sermon as a method to direct attention to the fostering of goodness, empathy, and compassion to individuals who are going through difficult times. This is useful for families of those involved in suicide, individuals with physical and mental diseases and their carers, and families with low income.
   
3. To encourage more Malaysians to be involved in the field of mental health that is increasingly needing attention as the number of mental health professionals is still insufficient. Among them are social health workers, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors and trained religious officers who are to be placed in government hospitals all over Malaysia.
   
4. To facilitate public access to mental health professionals especially among the urban poor who live in high-density areas. Among the modes would be house visits and mental health awareness activities executed in the local community.
   
5. To support local business, volunteerism and encourage the public to mutually cooperate in terms of finance during the crisis.

Long-term recommendation

The government to prepare more posts that are related to the mental health professionals who work in the city and the village. Currently, the rate of psychiatrists and psychologists in Malaysia is 1.05 and 1.03 respectively for every 100,000 population whereas the median number of mental health workers globally is nine per 100,000 (WHO Mental Health Atlas, 2017).

By focusing on support, compassion, acknowledgement and prevention, we can work together to save our society from the tragedy of suicide, and InshaAllah, reduce the risk of it happening in the future.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.