Shakeela Ahbrimkhil
This is an enormous number of Afghans, mainly women, trying to commit suicide to flee violence in life.
An Afghan woman swathed in bandages is attended by a doctor as she lies on a bed with burns over 65 percent of her body at The Herat Regional Hospital Burns Unit in Herat on July 31, 2008, after she tried to commit suicide by setting herself on fire. Afghan women are in a subordinate position in society, where conservative Islamic laws and traditions dictate what a woman is allowed to do in a male dominated world. Forced marriages, domestic violence, poverty and lack of access to education are said to be some of the main reasons for suicides. (Photo: AFP)
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Based on the figures given by the Ibn-e Sina Emergency Hospital in Kabul more than 600 incidents of suicide attempts have been referred to this hospital during the past 12 months.
Vice-chairman of the hospital, Dr. Nasim Hamdard said they receive around ten victims each week who have tried to commit self-murder.
“Most of the victims are women who use different medications in attempt to commit suicide,” Dr. Hamdard said.
The Ministry of Public Health confirms the boost in the number of suicidals.
Dr. Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman for the ministry said most of the victims have survived from their attempts.
Famliy violence, poverty, mental ailment and weak religious beliefs provoke self-murder in Afghanistan,” said Abdullah Fahim.
While the women use arsenal and insomnia medicines to commit suicide, but the men hang, shoot or dive from top floors.
A religious scholar, Enayatullah Baleegh says Islam doesn’t allow this self-punishment and it’s strictly forbidden in this religion.
Afghan Ministry of Public Health says number of suicide incidents have been climbing in the whole Asia continent for the past half a century.
Twenty million people commit suicide attempts each year worldwide.