999 for All Emergencies
News extracted from The
Star
PUTRAJAYA: It's
back to 999 to report all forms of emergencies.
And callers can expect their calls to be answered within 10 seconds or after
four rings.
Cellular phone users who had been dialling 112 could also dial the 999
numbers to reach the emergency call centre.
Unlike before people need not dial three sets of numbers (999, 994, 991 and
112 - for cellular phone users) to reach the different emergency and rescue
service providers in the country.
Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
said specially-trained professionals from the 999 Emergency Call Service
Centre would handle all emergency calls and reroute them, complete with
digital data on the type of emergency and location.
The calls would then be handled by the respective emergency service
providers like the police, ambulance, fire stations and civil defence rescue
units.
On call 24/7: Khirah Misni adjusting her headset while attending to a call
at a TM Bhd call centre in Banda Kaaba, Malacca, on Monday.
TM Bhd operates eight emergency services centres nationwide 24 hours a day,
seven days a week and has 138 trained staff dedicated to handle the
emergency calls.
Shaziman said the 999 call centre would be fully
managed by Telekom Malaysia (TM) Bhd and a nationwide campaign on the use of
a single number was being carried out.
By January next year, the 991 and 994
numbers will not be used anymore, but those who still use it to call
emergency service will be rerouted to the emergency call centre located
throughout the country, he told reporters during a soft launch of the
single emergency number and awareness campaign called Satu Negara Satu
Nombor 999.
Shaziman said the problem of emergency calls not being answered should not
arise as the unattended calls would be passed to the next available call
centre.
There are a total of eight emergency call centres in the country, with the
latest centre opening in Malacca.
Parallel emergency numbers, such as 991 for the Civil Defence Department and
994 for Fire and Rescue, were introduced in 1991, so that such calls could
be handled directly by the departments concerned.
Before that, a single emergency number 999 was used to report all
emergencies.
Shaziman said the Government decided to develop an efficient system to
regroup it back to 999 after public complaints over the four emergency
numbers and the many disturbing crimes in the country.
It is not easy to remember several emergency numbers when a person is in
distress. Even I am confused at times, he said
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