Dial India special 108 for help

India is gradually moving to use of one emergency telephone number across the country, 108, on the lines of America’s 911 and Britain’s 999.

In June, the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand adopted this number for providing emergency services. A 108 service for Delhi is in the pipeline.

The three-year-old Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) service also operates in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir, hoping to provide services to 100 million people by 2010.

“This is India’s first coordinated response service, at one number across the country, like the UK’s 999 and Europe’s 112, taking a call every two seconds,” EMRI Chief Executive Officer Venkat Changavali said.

The 108 service in India is ambulance-based. It has more than 600 advanced life-saving ambulances operating in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

The Tamil Nadu government has made available 200 such emergency medical technician-manned ambulances for the EMRI service.

“The service is free of charge,” Changavali said

India’s 28 states and seven Union Territories have long had different emergency numbers. There are different numbers for police and fire services. Hospitals provide different numbers for ambulance services, and disaster management services have different telephone numbers.

While 100 is the number for police, it is 103 for traffic police. However, if you are outside the city, the traffic police helpline number changes to 108.

This creates confusion and people do not know whom to call in case of an accident.

“Perhaps, actually, it is the hospital service 102 that should be first called if lives are to be saved,” Changavali.

According to Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Special Secretary P W C Davidar, while the state government plans to keep all existing emergency numbers alive, it will be linking 600 ambulances and police, fire services and as many hospitals as possible to the 108 service.

“This will ensure that not a single life is lost due to lack of emergency medicare,” he said.

His department is overseeing the rolling out of the 108 service in the state.

“Be it an aircraft crash in a roadless field or a roadside delivery, the EMRI number 108 responds to all kinds of emergencies,” Changavali said.