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In case of any sudden trouble or emergency, people dial the emergency number from their phones for immediate help. But the biggest problem till now in India has been that in different states and for different services (like police, fire brigade, ambulance) different numbers have to be dialled. During times of crisis, people often don’t remember the correct number due to panic, due to which there is a delay in getting help at the right time.
But in the coming days, the citizens of the country will get rid of this problem forever. The Supreme Court, while giving a big and important order, has given only one unified emergency helpline number in the entire country. ‘112’ Instructions have been given to make it fully effective.
Only ‘112’ will replace all these old numbers
At present, many helpline numbers are working for emergency help in different parts of the country. After the new order, all these numbers will gradually be merged (integrated), so that any citizen of the country can get all kinds of emergency help by just dialing 112 from anywhere:
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100 (police assistance)
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101 (fire brigade)
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102 And 108 (Health/Ambulance Services)
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1033 (National Highway Emergency)
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1091 (Women’s Helpline)
Historic decision on the petition of ‘Save Life Foundation’
The Supreme Court has given this historic order while hearing a PIL filed by ‘Save Life Foundation’. Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice A.S. Chandurkar’s bench has given strict instructions to all the states and union territories of the country to fully operationalize this ‘112’ helpline service within the next three months. Along with this, an effective ‘Good Samaritan’ (protection of helpers) grievance redressal system should also be established.
Immediate treatment is part of the right to life:
The court, while making very sensitive remarks during the hearing, said that the right of citizens to get timely treatment (trauma care) is an integral part of the ‘right to life’ guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. To check how serious the state governments are about this system, they will have to submit their reports regularly, hold monthly meetings and upload their proceedings on the government portal.
“At the time of an accident, speed is the real life-saving medicine.”
The court underlined that when a person meets with a road accident or any other accident, he is in a state of complete shock and confusion. In such a situation, only medical help provided without any delay in the first few minutes (golden hour) can save his life. The court said, “In such a critical situation, every minute that goes without treatment reduces a person’s chances of survival. Therefore, speeding up emergency services is like life-saving medicine.”
The fear of legal procedures will go away from the minds of the helpers.
It is often seen that even after seeing an injured person on the road, many passers-by do not come forward to help due to fear of legal procedures, going to the police station and giving testimony in the court. The bench of judges said that to overcome this fear and mental pressure, it is very important to increase awareness among the general public, promote first aid skills and implement a strong ‘Good Samaritan’ law on the ground.
Number 112 will be hi-tech: Ambulances will be equipped with GPS and location tracking
The Supreme Court has also ordered technical changes to make this entire system modern and transparent:
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Automotive Industry Standard-125 (AIS-125): All the states of the country will have to upgrade all their government and private ambulance vehicles to this special standard.
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Real-Time Tracking: All ambulances will be mandatorily fitted with GPS and Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD), which will be directly connected to the control room of helpline 112 in real-time. With this, the control room will immediately know which ambulance is nearest to the accident site.
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Periodic Audit: The response time of the ambulance, quality of treatment and condition of the equipment will be checked from time to time and its report will be sent to a central authority.