JIST

Abstract

Para-suicide by self-poisoning is a major public health concern throughout the world, especially in developing countries. It is a cause of considerable morbidity and mortality as well as consuming scarce medical resources which would have been used otherwise. The survival of such patients to a considerable extent depends on the competence of the attending doctors, nature of toxic agent consumed and the availability of specific antidote. The sole purpose of this study is to provide proper knowledge and awareness of health professionals on the common toxic agents used for self-poisoning.This prospective study was conducted by identifying and reviewing all self- poisoning cases that were presented at the emergency department of JNMCH, A.M.U Aligarh, over a span of 2 years. A total of 375 cases of selfpoisoning were entered into the emergency department register, but only 315 files were considered for this study. In this study majority patients belong to 15-24 years' age group i.e. 153 (48.57%) with male dominance. The most ingested substance for non-fatal self-poisoning was a pharmaceutical drug 71 (22.54%) followed by agrochemicals like rat poison 60 (19.05%), Aluminium phosphide 46 (14.60%) and organophosphate 33 (10.48%). There were significant (p<0.01) gender differences noted in type of substance used. Accessibility has been noted as a factor affecting the choice of drug used. Implementing the pesticide act strictly will allow the government to have control over the production, sale, distribution, storage and use of pesticides.