An attendant of a patient admitted at Bharatpur Hospital committed suicide in the hospital building on Friday night.

Bishnu Bahadur Sunar, a permanent resident of Lamjung who was working in Chitwan, was found hanging from the railing of a staircase near the ward where his wife was being treated, said police. Bishnu used his shawl to hang himself.

Sujita, who gave birth to a baby three months ago, was admitted to the hospital for pleural effusion, an excessive buildup of fluid in the space between the lungs and chest cavity, a week ago.

“Sujita’s health was improving. We were planning to discharge her within a couple of days,” said Lila Paudel, the information officer at the hospital. He said the treatment was not expensive.

Bishnu’s relatives said Bishnu looked normal and they were shocked by his suicide. “He was working in a poultry farm. We were also helping him financially with the treatment. We don’t know why he took such a decision,” said Anil Sunar, Bishnu’s brother-in-law.

Bishnu’s case is not an individual one. According to the District Police Office data, a total of 48 people died in various incidents during Dashain and Tihar, among them 20 people committed suicide.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Eknarayan Koirala said suicide was the leading cause of death in Chitwan for the past few years. According to him, around 70 to 90 people commit suicide in the district annually and the figure is gradually on the rise.

Psychiatrists underscore the need of public health awareness to check the alarming number of suicide in the district. “Around 80 percent people who commit suicide are the patients of depression. It can be easily cured. But most of the people suffering from depression do not have access to doctors,” said Dr CP Sedhain, a psychiatrist. “The local units should make a plan to solve the problem. The focus should be on how well depression patients get access to health workers for counselling,” he added.