When a young child makes a decision to take his or her life, it is an indication that the society has failed that child.{{more}}

This was the view expressed by pediatrician Dr Bharati Datta, as she spoke on the issue of suicide among children.

According to Dr Datta, the generation of today possesses less tolerance than those of the past.

“In our generation, we did a lot more with a lot less. The generation today has a lesser tolerance, and we have to learn to deal with it,” she said.

“Very often, young people can’t take it anymore,” Dr Datta continued.

When a young child makes a decision to take their life, it is an indication that society has failed the child, Datta explained.

“And this should be a wakeup call to all of us, whether it means not making harmful chemicals accessible,” she told SEARCHLIGHT.

However, Dr Datta opined that this was only a small part of the solution.

“The bigger solution would be to try to find out why these young people are resorting to such measures.”

The nation was thrown into shock a few weeks ago when news surfaced of the suicide of 11-year-old Aldan Richards. However, according to Dr Datta, there was another case this year where a young girl made an attempt to hang herself.

“The story was that she was being abused by her mother so much that she decided that she was going to hang herself,” Dr Datta said.

Fortunately, she was saved in the nick of time, but according to Dr Datta, there is no “quick fix to end abuse.”

She made an urgent call for the traditional family structure to come back, saying that children should feel comfortable in their homes and be able to confide in their parents.

“Communities need to start looking out for each other, so many people were concerned, but that child (Richards) did not have one single person to turn to,” Dr Datta said.

She also made an urgent call for parents to be more observant and attend to the needs of their children.

“We have to be careful and watch our children like a hawk,” she contended.

She made the comment in relation to the high level of admittances to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital for accidental ingestion of substances.

“There are children coming in after ingesting everything from cough syrup to alcohol.”

“They are accidents yes, but it amounts to neglect,” she explained.