Cost of caring: When health workers get depressed

The suicide rate for doctors has been variably estimated at five times the rate of the general population. [iStockphoto]

Certain memories are perennially and stubbornly etched into physicians' and healthcare workers' psyches; the repetitive bleep of the electronic vital sign monitor; the strangest items found in human openings; delivering their first baby; and witnessing their first patient die. These are all rites of passage.

"I've found it's easy to talk about the funny memories, but the disturbing ones are harder to talk about," says Dr Maureen Mumbe, a Machakos level 5 hospital doctor.