Study on medical students' stress says 358 suicides reported between 2010 and 2019

As per an RTI response from the National Medical Commission (NMC), as many as 64 MBBS and 55 postgraduate medicos died by suicide in the last five years. Moreover, 1,166 students dropped out of medical college. Of late, many reports have emerged of medical students committing suicide across the country.

Amid many reports of suicide by medical students in India, an RTI response from the National Medical Commission (NMC) has revealed that in the last five years, as many as 64 MBBS and 55 postgraduate medicos died by suicide. Moreover, 1,166 students dropped out of medical college. Of these, 160 were studying MBBS and 1,006 were pursuing postgraduate courses.

As per the study titled ‘Suicide deaths among medical students, residents and physicians in India spanning a decade (2010-2019): An exploratory study using online news portals and Google database’, 358 suicide deaths among medical students (125), residents (105) and physicians (128) were reported between 2010 and 2019. Around seven out of 10 suicides took place before the age of 30, as reported by The Hindu.

More details of study on medical students' suicide

As per the study, female residents and physicians were younger than their male counterparts at the time of suicide. Academic stress among medical students (45.2%) and residents (23.1%), and marital discord among physicians (26.7%) were the most noticeable reasons for suicide. Anaesthesiology (22.4%) followed by obstetrics-gynaecology (16.0%) had the highest number of suicide deaths. 

Mental health is among one the common reason behind these suicides in medical students medical students (24%) and physicians (20%), while harassment (20.5%) was a cause for residents. The study also revealed that nearly 26% had exhibited suicide warning signs and only 13% had ever sought psychiatric help before ending their lives.

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