Himachal ambulance services marred by prank calls

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 26

The efficiency of the 108 Emergency Response Centre (ERC), which provides ambulances to patients needing immediate assistance, has been severely marred with 23 callers making a number of abusive and obscene calls ranging from 100 to over 700 in the last six months.

The staff of the 108 ambulance services has identified these callers over the six-month period from August 2019 to January 2020. A girl tops the list with 746 calls, which includes 538 calls which were disconnected on being received, three nuisance calls and 205 which turned to be blank on being received by the centre.

Another habitual user has made 432 calls while five others made calls ranging from 226 to 289 and 16 others made calls ranging from 102 to 192 in the last six months.

Fed up with their repeated calls, the ERC staff have reported the matter to the police. The callers at times seek information like the score of cricket match and some even get abusive. Despite a series of counselling sessions undertaken by the police as well as trained counsellors, little improvement has been observed in the behaviour of habitual callers. Persistent callers include students.

These ineffective calls, officials of GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), which operates the service, fear often clog lines for the needy in emergency.

“Though the percentage of unanswered calls had come down in 2019, the emergency number should not receive unnecessary calls as it keeps the phone busy for long periods,” said Mehul Sukumaran, GVK EMRI state head.

Making unnecessary calls on 108 and 102 emergency numbers prevents a genuine user in an emergency from contacting the centre. Sukumaran said at times even seconds are a key factor in saving someone’s life or property.

To prevent such ineffective calls, GVK EMRI has initiated various awareness campaigns. Additional SP Shiv Kumar Sharma said action could be taken if a written complaint was made by the aggrieved.

23 callers identified

The staff of the 108 ambulance services have identified 23 callers who made persistent prank calls ranging from 100 to over 700 in the last six months.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.