Self-immolation Among Medical Practitioners and Medical Students: More Evidence is Needed from Developing Countries

vidence suggests the high rates of “burnout,” “depression,” and “suicidal ideation” among medical doctors and medical students. However, due to privacy, possible job impact, stigma, etc. these two groups might not seek proper mental health treatment (1). As a result, medical practitioners and medical students have a higher suicide rate compared with the general population (2-7). It has been suggested that familiarity with and easy access to dangerous means of suicide such as drugs could partially explain this elevated risk (8, 9). For example, the results of a study that carried out in England and Wales have highlighted that using drugs was common in doctors in comparison with the general population. During the period of study, that is, 1979-1995, 115 (54.8%) male doctors and 40 (64.5%) female doctors committed suicide applying drugs or poisoning. Interestingly, the same study also revealed that only 2 (2.3%) male doctors and no female doctors committed suicide applying self-burning (10). Furthermore, the results of another study have demonstrated that doctors in a general