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Suicide a way out of nightmare
06/01/2005 20:38 - (SA)
Galle - For Sujeewa Amarasena, a Sri Lankan doctor, the alarm bells rang on learning of the first suicide since the tsunami devastated much of his country.
Amarasena, who is also head of the children's department in Karapitiya hospital, said: "We have to undertake psychological care immediately."
Together with psychiatrists and psychologists, he is organising the training of young doctors. The volunteers will offer tsunami survivors in southern Sri Lanka emergency psychological help.
The need is great as the entire country has been traumatised since the tsunamis hit, said to health minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.
The survivors have had awful experiences. More than 50 doctors from different regions have met in Karapitiya to help - far more than Amarasena had expected after the appeal.
Found among the dead
The psychiatrist tells of a girl who was believed dead.
She was placed among corpses, lying among the dead without stirring until the mass burial was about to start. Suddenly, someone noticed that the child was alive. She has not spoken a word since.
Another boy is plagued by the memory of a friend who held out his hand for help - only to be washed away in the floods. The boy has a guilty conscience because he survived, and has stopped eating.
The plight of some adults is no better. Days after the catastrophe, some are still crouched over the ruins of their former homes.
They stare emptily out to the sea that once nurtured them and provided their livelihood, but has since robbed them of their nearest and dearest.
Bodies that are still being recovered have decomposed. Young soldiers and police officers helping to clear up are finding these. Some involved in the grisly task are almost children.
Their hands are shaking. No one knows whether they sleep at night or have to cope with nightmares.
The scale of the psychological catastrophe will be visible for a long time.
Psychological support
"Traumatised people commit suicide even 30 years later", said Amarasena, adding: "We have to try and minimize the consequences from the start and offer psychological support."
Three teams with 50 doctors each are to spread out across the ravaged coastal region in Sri Lanka's southern province.
Amarasena and the instructors have no illusions about the volunteers' abilities.
Only specialists can treat cases of trauma, said the psychiatrist who instructs the doctors, many of whom have qualified only recently.
"After a day, you are supposed to be able to tell whether the person you offered to help is okay. You have to be able to determine who needs a psychiatrist", she stresses, adding, "We don't know yet who can recover from the shock with only minimum support."
It is not long since the tsunamis struck "and it will take a while until post-trauma stress syndromes develop," she added. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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