According to the figures of World Health Organization, the suicide rate of Hong Kong has been increasing in the recent years.

However, SBHK chairman Wong Yao-wing articulated that the problem lies in whether there is enough support for the people in need of help.

He suggested that, to help those with potentially suicide-triggering illness, the government should add suicide prevention in the public issue of health policy.

Although SBHK adopts the word from the Christian Bible as their name, according to their reports, it is a non-religious organisation and doesn't inculcate any religious stance to help seekers.

(救人一命勝造七級 浮圖) In July 1960, SBHK was established under the name "Suicide Prevention Society", which was a local agency run by volunteer workers.

In 1964, there was a significant increase in suicide rate among secondary 5 students because of their setback in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination, which greatly alarmed the public.

However, the latter was dissolved in 1982 and developed into a new organisation called "The Samaritans" which provided 24-hour multilingual hotline service of suicide prevention.

The two new centres together with the existing Hotline Center, though having unique service nature and different objectives, share the common spirit and mission of SBHK.

SBHK's 24-hour Hotline Centre, which has served Hong Kong for almost 40 years, mainly provides immediate emotional support to people who are suffering from depression or have suicidal tendency.

Caring Fund was set up in 1994 to support the project aiming at promoting the importance of active listening to the people around.

The SBHK operates a 24-hour hotline, provides crisis intervention, life education and interview services, and answers mails from help seekers.

Three Stages of Service: This system is the commonly used method, although the center can provide targeted suicide prevention to different groups of people.

Samaritan volunteers come from different social classes, including teachers, students, housewives and retired people.

Besides providing hotline service, volunteers also work to arouse the social awareness of the issue about depression and suicide.

On the other hand, according to the interview on 11 February 2006, Mr. Kan, the Vice-chairman of SBHK, pointed out that to avoid overlapping the resources, the number of volunteers would not be increased during the HKCEE period.

As SBHK's past records noted, most of the calls made by Form 5 graduates were asking information rather than really seeking emotional support.

Since there already exist some other services providing informative guidance to Form 5 graduates, like Hok Yau Club (學友社), 1878668 (人間互助社聯熱線), etc., SBHK indicated that they would keep the number of Hotline Center volunteers during HKCEE as usual.

At last, the correct phone call was made at 8:37 p.m. SBHK apologised for the mistake and promised to check the information more carefully in the future.

However, as there are not enough volunteers working at late night hours, even if there is a message recording service, workers may not be able to phone back immediately during these periods.