'Three-tier system to prevent suicide must stay'
Paediatrician and government advisor Lam Ching-choi on Saturday said a school-based system to help prevent young people from taking their own lives is having an effect and should stay in place.  Lam, who chairs the advisory committee on mental health and sits on the Executive Council, said about 200 vulnerable pupils had been identified, and about a dozen at high risk had been referred for psychiatric help via the three-tier school-based emergency system. The system was put in place in December and was extended until the end of this year.  Speaking after research from the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention showed a rising number of youth suicides, Lam said the three-tier system should continue, and efforts should be made to improve it. "The mechanism has been effective, but we still need to review it and see whether we can work on more details. We care deeply about every pupil, no matter their stage of development. So, we will need to come up with a better mechanism to support them," he told an RTHK radio programme.  The system works to support schools and pupils in three ways. In the first tier, all schools are being given help in identifying students who are at higher risk of suicide or who have mental health needs. The second tier involves an off-campus support network that's intended to provide more external support for schools. Lastly, schoolmasters can refer pupils with severe mental health needs to the Hospital Authority's psychiatric specialist service, and urgent cases will be given priority. Lam also urged parents, schools and communities to build up a stronger network to offer mental health support to pupils. HKU's annual study, released on Tuesday, found that the overall suicide rate dipped to 13.6 per 100,000 people last year from 13.7 in 2022. But the centre noted the suicide rate among teenagers under 15 had increased to 2.9 from 0.9, and the number reached 4.2 when looking at teenage girls.