Soon in Stores: The Anti-Suicide Fan

A Jabalpur doctor designs a ceiling fan that will collapse if tugged by a weight over 25 kg

NEW DELHI ~ Suicide, the shrink will tell you, is related to the psychological makeup of an individual. To deal with it, counselling and sometimes medication is required. A cardiologist in Madhya Pradesh, however, has a radical solution. He wants to tackle the phenomenon by targeting what he believes is the most common tool used for suicide in India—the ceiling fan.

Dr RS Sharma, a professor in Jabalpur’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, has designed what he calls an anti-suicide fan. His fan, for all practical purposes, is like any other fan, except that its shaft has been split into two. Connecting the two are four heavy springs. According to Sharma, if an individual tries to hang himself from the fan, the springs will uncoil and the person will land on the floor. “Suicide is an impulsive decision. The impulse comes as suddenly as it goes. If that moment passes, then the person won’t try to commit suicide. What I am saying is, let’s design a fan that will make any suicide bid using it unsuccessful. Not only will this person fail in killing himself, even that moment will pass and he will change his mind,” he says.

The doctor says he came up with the idea when he visited the house of an acquaintance, who was mourning the death of a son. His son had been unable to cope with the fact that he had failed his Class XII exams and hanged himself from a ceiling fan. “This fellow’s wife had recently put up that fan and she was cursing her decision. She kept saying she should have bought a table fan, not a ceiling fan,” he says.

The doctor then tinkered with the design of a ceiling fan with the help of a welder. He claims he took about two weeks to finish the product. He used sacks filled with sand and later used himself as a subject to test how much weight the fan could withstand. Currently, it can withstand an add-on weight of 25 kg. Anything above, and the springs uncoil. Dr Sharma has now filed a patent claim for the design. “Within two years, I can already foresee school and college hostels with ceilings bearing my fans,” he says.

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Lhendup G Bhutia

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