Only 3 of every 10 calls to ‘108’ a medical emergency
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Chennai:22.11.2019
Only three of every 10 calls received at the state-funded emergency management research Institute (EMRI) or ‘108’ report a medical emergency. While nearly half the calls the agency receives are termed “ineffective”, one-fifth of the remaining calls are non-emergency calls, performance reports published by the National Rural Health Mission in Tamil Nadu revealed.
The control room in Chennai, which works round-the-clock, got 17 lakh calls between April and June this year. Of these, around 5 lakh were for medical emergencies, including pregnancies, road accidents, poisoning, heart attack and strokes. Though the percentage of non-emergency and ineffective calls has come down from 83% in April-June 2013 to 68.46% in April-June 2019, staff say prank callers including drunk men continue to clog the helpline. “They complain about increasing onion prices, discuss current affairs, ask for cricket scores, sing songs or sometimes just keep silent. Over a period, we have learned to quickly disconnect such callers. But before we do so, we have to ensure the person calling isn’t in pain or scared to talk,” an employee said.
For instance, if students are calling in panic ahead of examinations or if someone sounds dangerously low, the line is transferred to ‘104’ for counselling. Even among emergencies, some calls are transferred to police and fire services.
As a result, staff point out that the percentage of unanswered calls has gone up from 1.72% in 2013 to 4% in 2019 and the percentage of calls attended to on the first ring has come down from 92% to 85%.
This is despite a reduction in the number of calls. Between April and June 2013, the agency got 23 lakh calls compared to 17 lakh in the same period in 2019. “But, in some months, we see very high numbers,” a senior official said.
The call centre, which works from the ‘108’ headquarters in the Directorate of Medical Services campus, has more than 120 lines and more than 60 operators on every shift. It receives more than 4,000 calls a day from across the state. “Almost every helpline across the globe has this problem,” said GVK EMRI state head Dr Selvakumar.
The ‘100’ helpline operated by the police department also faces similar problems. Those manning the police helpline initially asked callers to hang up if they had dialled by mistake. Now, callers are asked to dial 1 to proceed. “So if people have dialled by mistake they can cut the call. We are now trying to develop a programme to track those making prank calls so legal action can be initiated against them,” said a senior police officer.
Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com
Chennai:22.11.2019
Only three of every 10 calls received at the state-funded emergency management research Institute (EMRI) or ‘108’ report a medical emergency. While nearly half the calls the agency receives are termed “ineffective”, one-fifth of the remaining calls are non-emergency calls, performance reports published by the National Rural Health Mission in Tamil Nadu revealed.
The control room in Chennai, which works round-the-clock, got 17 lakh calls between April and June this year. Of these, around 5 lakh were for medical emergencies, including pregnancies, road accidents, poisoning, heart attack and strokes. Though the percentage of non-emergency and ineffective calls has come down from 83% in April-June 2013 to 68.46% in April-June 2019, staff say prank callers including drunk men continue to clog the helpline. “They complain about increasing onion prices, discuss current affairs, ask for cricket scores, sing songs or sometimes just keep silent. Over a period, we have learned to quickly disconnect such callers. But before we do so, we have to ensure the person calling isn’t in pain or scared to talk,” an employee said.
For instance, if students are calling in panic ahead of examinations or if someone sounds dangerously low, the line is transferred to ‘104’ for counselling. Even among emergencies, some calls are transferred to police and fire services.
As a result, staff point out that the percentage of unanswered calls has gone up from 1.72% in 2013 to 4% in 2019 and the percentage of calls attended to on the first ring has come down from 92% to 85%.
This is despite a reduction in the number of calls. Between April and June 2013, the agency got 23 lakh calls compared to 17 lakh in the same period in 2019. “But, in some months, we see very high numbers,” a senior official said.
The call centre, which works from the ‘108’ headquarters in the Directorate of Medical Services campus, has more than 120 lines and more than 60 operators on every shift. It receives more than 4,000 calls a day from across the state. “Almost every helpline across the globe has this problem,” said GVK EMRI state head Dr Selvakumar.
The ‘100’ helpline operated by the police department also faces similar problems. Those manning the police helpline initially asked callers to hang up if they had dialled by mistake. Now, callers are asked to dial 1 to proceed. “So if people have dialled by mistake they can cut the call. We are now trying to develop a programme to track those making prank calls so legal action can be initiated against them,” said a senior police officer.
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