A few days ago, 77-year-old pensioner Dimitris Christoulas committed suicide outside of the Greek Parliament as a result of the economic problems that were ruining his life. “If we do not take care of them, several of the inmates of the hospital are telling us they will choose the same way of ending their life,” explains Michalis Giannakis, Chairman of workers in the Dromokaitio Mental Institution to protothema.gr.
He admits there is an increase in incidents of people who threaten to kill themselves if the institution refuses to take them in. They are not addicted to alcohol or drugs, nor do they suffer from chronic psychological problems; they are simply experiencing the most difficult time of their lives due to the economic crisis. Furthermore, they are people who used to have decent work and could afford to pay their rent, but they’ve lost everything in today’s financial chaos.
Giannakis continues, “These people ask nothing but a plate of food and a place to sleep at night. They try to survive even in this way. The worst is that they are creating fake incidents, so that the police can ask for a public prosecutor’s request for a mandatory hospitalization of at least 15 days. Once discharged, they come back again in the same way.”
In several cases, the medical staff find themselves embarrassed and shocked by such human tragedy, especially when people say that if they are not hospitalized, they will commit suicide.
“They are desperate people who should not be excluded from realizing their threats,” Giannakis explains to protothema.gr.
The hospital reports many similar incidents lately, upto three per day.
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