SHARIFUL ISLAM

The speed at which the National Emergency Helpline (999) responds to distress calls is much slower than that of developed countries due to an outdated operating system and manpower shortage.

The average response time of the 999 unit in Bangladesh is about 20 minutes against around seven minutes in countries like the US, the UK, and Japan, said several unit officials.

Because of such delayed response, the callers in distress run the risk of being deprived of emergency services, while many alleged that they had to wait for hours after calling the helpline.

999 is a toll-free hotline number that allows citizens in trouble to call and ask for help from police, fire service or ambulance service providers in case of any crimes, accident or other emergencies.

At present, the emergency helpline unit receives around 30,000 calls a day.

Officials at the unit said the response time would have come down significantly if their demand for providing the unit with automatic caller identification and location system had been met.

They said the Police Headquarters sent a demand note to the home ministry in this regard in May, 2018, and a decision to provide the unit with the system was made in August, 2019, after a series of meetings involving different ministries and government agencies.

“But it is yet to be implemented,” one of the officials told this newspaper.

The system can locate the caller’s exact address instantly which is not possible in the existing manual system, the official said.