The collapse of the emergency medicine system due to the prolonged standoff between the government and the medical community has affected suicide prevention efforts, a lawmaker pointed out.
While the number of suicide reports has increased, the number of suicide-attempters visiting hospitals through ERs has declined, he added.
According to the “Emergency Room-Based Suicide Attempters” data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. Park Hee-seung of the Democratic Party of Korea, there were 14,419 suicide reports received by the National Fire Agency from February when the medical crisis began to June, an increase of 543 cases from the same period last year.
However, the number of emergency room-based statistics on suicide attempters visiting ERs decreased 22.7 percent from 13,046 to 10,086 during the same period.
Until last year, the number of ER-based aftercare providers had increased yearly, pushing up such visits. However, the situation changed this year.
ED-based aftercare organizations increased from 63 in 2019 to 87 in 2024. The number of suicide attempts in emergency departments also increased from 21,545 in 2019 to 30,665 in 2023. Still, it fell to 12,628 this past June, a low level even considering the remainder of 2024.
According to Article 7 of the Suicide Prevention Act, if suicide-attempted patients visit a medical institution that conducts emergency room-based aftercare and agrees to the aftercare service, they can receive short-term aftercare at the hospital and be referred to a mental health welfare center in their community for help.
However, the rate of ER-based community referrals for suicide attempts hit a low point this year. After increasing 0.6 percentage points from 39.3 percent in 2019 to 39.9 percent in 2020, the ER-based community referral rate for suicide attempts fell to 38.9 percent in 2021, 38.3 percent in 2022, 38.1 percent in 2023, and 37.5 percent in June 2024.
By age, the share of people in their 20s and younger who visited ERs after suicide attempts increased 8.4 percentage points from 35.0% in 2019 to 43.4% in 2023, with the teenage age group increasing from 12.0% in 2019 to 16.7% in 2023.
Mental disorders accounted for 36.7 percent of reasons for suicides, followed by interpersonal relationships at 18.9 percent and quarrels at 10.6 percent.
“Along with achieving quantitative growth, such as increasing the number of emergency room-based follow-up projects, it is important to normalize the functioning of emergency rooms and create an environment where suicide attempters can continue to receive case management,” Rep. Park said. “As mental disorders and interpersonal relationships account for a large proportion of suicide attempts, it is necessary to come up with measures to increase the rate of community linkages in ER-based follow-up programs.”