According to Dr Vu Kim Hoan from the HCM City Psychiatric Hospital, the model has been applied since July 2022 with the HCM City 115 Emergency Center and the HCM City Psychiatric Hospital being the major forces.

People, when discovering the signs of depression or attempt to commit suicide, can ring the 115 Center and 1900.1267 at any time. After receiving the calls, the emergency center will come to the sites, help stabilize patients and bring them to the city’s hospital.

The special model is applied in HCM City with an aim to discover and safely handle cases that need emergency aid for depression and mental disorders.

According to Hoan, from July 26, 2022 to June 1, 2023, the 115 emergency center received 79 cases related to depression emergency, while 1900.1267 switchboard had 236 calls.

Of the cases received by the 115 emergency center, 34 cases were transferred to the HCM City Psychiatric Hospital. Most patients were in the hard-driving state, some of them had hallucinations, had impaired consciousness, and others committed dangerous behaviors such as causing traffic accidents and trying to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, nearly 200 cases called the psychiatric hospital to get advice, and 13 cases had to be hospitalized. Hoan stressed that ‘emergency in case of depression’ is a humanitarian solution which allows patients with severe symptoms to have more opportunities and time for treatment.

Doctors said depression can be cured if patients begin early treatment and if the patients’ problems can be solved to the very root. If patients don’t get proper treatment, they may try to commit suicide.

“Many patients, after failing to commit suicide and being rescued, feel regret for their behaviors. After the upheaval in their lives, they begin doing charity actively as they understand the life is precious,” Hoan said.

“The emergency model helps patients calm down and become more daring to cope with the difficulties in their lives. This is a humanitarian solution,” he said.

Experts said they can see the relation between the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in number of patients suffering from depression and anxiety disorder in the globe, as well as the rate of people committing suicide.

A report showed that 15 million people in Vietnam face mental disorders. The HCM City Psychiatric Hospital in 2022 gave examinations to 217,000 outpatients. The figure was 20,000 each month in the first months of 2023. The number of patients suffering from depression accounted for 10 percent.

Linh Trang