Depression in the spotlight

THE death of the internationally renowned cardiologist Professor Bongani Mayosi by suicide has put the peril posed by clinical depression under the spotlight.

The 51-year-old pioneer’s death on Friday sent shock waves through the academic and medical fraternities, as he was destined for a bigger stage in his career.

Coming from a rural background in the Eastern Cape, his rise was swift, a factor recognised when he was honoured with the Order of Mapungubwe in Silver, South Africa’s highest honour.

Last year Mayosi was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honours in health and medicine. In the same year he led a research team that pinpointed a gene that is a major cause of sudden death by heart failure among young people and athletes. This feat has been described as the “biggest breakthrough in South African cardiology since Dr Chris Barnard’s first heart transplant”.

Head of the department of cardiology at Groote Schuur Hospital and dean in the faculty of health sciences at the University of Cape Town, Mayosi has been given rousing tributes.

Zweli Mkhize, the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs who trained with Mayosi at Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZuluNatal, described him as a “highly revered chief specialist, a brilliant academic and researcher as well as a world-renowned cardiologist”.

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi described Mayosi as a transformational leader and change agent who had great dreams for public healthcare.

Mayosi’s family revealed that he had been battling depression for the past two years. Treatment for chronic depression and anxiety – often the precursors to suicide – has never been more available and more widespread.

Yet in many cases our cultural or social taboos make it hard to seek professional help. In our country it is mostly men who commit suicide, and men are less likely to seek help than women.

But this problem isn’t confined to South Africa. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. Nearly 45 000 Americans killed themselves in 2016, twice the number who died by homicide.

Mayosi’s death by suicide puts a spotlight on depression, and the desperation of so many individual souls, suffering behind those smiles.

It’s hard, perhaps impossible, to predict who’ll commit suicide, but help is just a phone call away.

Our condolences to Prof Mayosi’s family, friends and colleagues.