In late April, Anyakan received urgent treatment at a hospital in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, after swallowing rat poison in front of the Finance Ministry in protest at the lack of financial aid. She was desperate and saw no chance that the authorities would listen to her pleas after she was denied aid for 5,000 baht (around 142 euros) during one of the most difficult weeks of her life due to the new coronavirus pandemic. Ironically, government aid payments were part of the "leave no one behind" program.
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Anyakan had been yelling "nobody cares" outside the entrance to the Ministry. After being ignored again, she took the poison pills and fell to the ground. After being hospitalized, the representatives of that cabinet paid her a visit and promised to transfer the money.
This woman's suicide attempt is part of a troubling trend, as the economic anguish caused by the coronavirus is driving more and more Thais to despair. The local press has published very sad cases in recent weeks, such as the story of Irada, a mother of two children from Maha Sarakham, a province in the northeast of the country, who hanged herself on April 21. Irada generally made a living selling yogurt with a small cart and had reported having problems supporting her two young children. She was already in a difficult situation before the arrival of the coronavirus and that the movement restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the virus left her without clients.
The day before the woman's death, a 41-year-old father of a family ended his life and that of his five-year-old daughter. Their bodies were found by police floating in the Pa Sak river in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok. Residents told police that the man was unemployed and could not find a job. A witness said he heard the father jump into the water first and his daughter, crying, launched himself next.
Thailand is the country with the most suicides per capita in Southeast Asia according to data from the World Health Organization
Thailand is known for having one of the world's largest wealth inequalities and one of the highest suicide rates in Southeast Asia. In fact, killing oneself ranks second among the non-natural causes of death in the country, after traffic accidents, and surpasses both homicide and murder, according to government data.
An article by the World Health Organization made with data from 2016 places Thailand as the 32nd country with the highest annual suicide rate in the world, with 14.4 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, equivalent to 10,000 a year. Thailand had more suicides per capita than any other Southeast Asian country; Second on the list is Burma, with 9.5 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
The covid-19 pandemic, and the accompanying economic devastation, has only worsened the situation. In April, a group of academics urged the government to make financial aid more inclusive, claiming that the loss of jobs and the closure of businesses has created a desperate situation for many Thais. Academics are Atthajak Sattayanurak from the Faculty of Humanities at Chiang Mai University; Somchai Preechasilpakul, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at Chiang Mai University, and Prapas Pintobtaeng, Professor of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
These professionals began studying suicides in the kingdom a few weeks after the government imposed emergency measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus in late March. According to the results of his investigation, at least 38 cases are related to quarantine and the consequent loss of jobs as of the end of April. Of them, 28 people died.
This team warned that the number of suicide cases caused by economic repercussions could even exceed the number of deaths from coronavirus if the government does not react quickly. 54 people had died from covid-19 in Thailand on April 30 (currently, the number of deaths is 56). However, the disease itself has been largely controlled, while the consequences on the economy will still be felt for a long time.
People with fewer resources have been the most affected since the country first confirmed a case outside China on January 13. Health officials say their mental health hotline is receiving an unprecedented barrage of calls. According to the Department of Public Health, in March alone they received 600 calls, compared to just 20 and 40 in each of the previous two months, a number that has continued to rise.
As Andrea Giorgetta, Asia Director of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) explains, “The coronavirus outbreak has simply exacerbated the economic problems that large segments of the Thai population have faced since General Prayuth Chan-o -cha took power in the 2014 military coup ”. Prayuth is the current Prime Minister, after winning a controversial election in 2019.
Giorgetta says that the mismanagement of the Thai economy by the Prayuth administrations, both past and present, have been evident and “the military and elites have benefited the most from more than five years of government of the military junta ”, if not the only ones that have been favored.
"Many Thais are also enraged by the fact that, while the government appears unable to adopt an effective, robust and short-term aid package to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus, it continues to pursue the aggressive acquisition of military hardware , an infrastructure Large questionable and investment projects, such as the Eastern Economic Corridor ”, adds Giorgetta.
According to the National Statistics Office, 54.3% of the workforce of 37.5 million people are informal workers. These people receive very irregular income, very low wages and are very unprotected by the social security system, leaving them in a very vulnerable position. The team of academics suggest that local authorities "should develop a plan to distribute food and basic goods to people severely affected by the economy in crisis." They also proposed that companies in low-risk areas should be reopened.
The kingdom began to ease movement restrictions on May 3. Beauty salons, restaurants, and street food stalls came to life, maintaining social distance. The nightly curfew, which prohibits people from leaving their homes, has been reduced somewhat and is now in effect at 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.
The researchers noted that while the government produces daily press reports on the situation of covid-19 and mobilizes resources to curb the spread of the virus, "it does not address the issue of suicide," which could have been avoided with financial help for more distressed people.
"Suicide cases indicate how the government is failing to handle the situation," and if it does not consider the socio-economic impacts of the virus, Thailand "can see more cases," these experts argue. At the time of writing, the Ministry of Finance has paid the promised 145 euros or 5,000 baht in monthly assistance to just four million Thais, out of the 27 million who requested it. Anyakan, the woman who was poisoned in front of the Ministry, was one of the rejected.
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