Featured National emergency helpline 911 likely to ring in on July 25

[Dil_Pakistan]

Will it be a centralized helpline like 911 in US? With all the services under 1 call?

I think so or hopefully it will be.

Call will come here, and then they(911) will probably direct/order the relevant services (1122,15 etc.) with the relevant info for immediate dispatch..

 

[mourning sage]

Yes but would only resolve 10 % of the issue. The real issue is our Police Forces and Ambulance services and fire brigade lack both vehicles and patrol to respond to these calls. We seriously need to build up that capacity.

@PanzerKiel @RescueRanger @Balixd @Tipu7 @Sulman Badshah

The good thing about this initiative is that it is going to be centrally controlled. And it will be under IK's direct watch so no Sindhis taking it over or Noonies recruiting on political grounds. Also follow ups and insurance becomes almost guaranteed from all relevant stakeholders as soon as a complaint is launched because there is no room for excuses. The central dispatcher will make sure help arrives timely. This is going to be a major breakthrough in emergency services

 

[Zarvan]

Will it be a centralized helpline like 911 in US? With all the services under 1 call?

I think that is the point.

 

[ghazi52]

Nice development . This is in right direction.
People will be gradually adopting this features .

 

[Goritoes]

why not stick with 1122?

 

[HAIDER]

perfect idea still 20 years late but good to see

good, someone didn't suggest 69 .. lolzz

 

[Syed_Adeel]

911 has been quite famous emergency number. worldwide so its good to have. Those supporting 1122 are also correct with their national perspective but since more tourists are visiting Pakistan so i think adding 911 as emergency dialing will surely help more than 1122 for them.

 

[Skywalker]

ok Grandma, i will keep my ideocracy to myself . here lolipop for you

Your mental ability to grasp any positive thing is way above your pea brain, grandson, dont forget how you were born.

 

[Saquib]

How about this number 786 The number signifies the benevolent and merciful Allah!
We in the UK have 999 for all emergencies.

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

Why 911? Why not 786?

 

[RescueRanger]

Yes but would only resolve 10 % of the issue. The real issue is our Police Forces and Ambulance services and fire brigade lack both vehicles and patrol to respond to these calls. We seriously need to build up that capacity.

@PanzerKiel @RescueRanger @Balixd @Tipu7 @Sulman Badshah

Yes, well sadly please forgive me for not being optimistic about this, but I have my reasons. Some of which I will explain here.

Pakistan has a kichri of emergency hotlines and helplines, some of which I have included for you below:

• Edhi 115
• Chhipa Ambulance 1020
• Sindh Peoples Ambulance 1023
• Rescue 1122
• Rescue 15
• Rangers 1101
• Anti Terrorism Hotline 1135
• Pakistan Medical Assistance Hotline 1166
• Aman Ambulance 1021
• Fire Service 16
• Child Protection 1121
• Cyber Crime 9911
• Covid Helpline 1166
• Police Corruption 8787
• Disaster Management Hotline 1129
• Highway and Motorway Police 130
• Gas Emergency Hotline 1199
• Electricity Emergency 118
• Water Board 111-305-305
• Coast Guard Search and Rescue 021-99215251
• Wildlife Animal Rescue: 051-2601912

Now looking at all these numbers, people could be forgiven for thinking that one number such as 911 would be a great change, one that would mean that those in need of assistance can get the right help at the right time from the right people.

However, when you look at this massive list of telephone numbers, you have to ask yourself, who is staffing these numbers? What is the call handling SLA? What is the brand equity and consumer confidence for each of these numbers.

Now, Pakistan already has two very well established emergency numbers, these are 15 (Founded by the late Naasir Khan Durrani in 1998) and Rescue 1122 (founded by Dr. Rizwan Nasir in 2004). Both these numbers and their associated brands have acceptance among the public and varying degrees of recognition as being bonafide emergency numbers.

One of the issues that concerns me, based on my experience and research concerns the call routing, call handling and resourcing of these calls. To have a look at demand management and service level agreements, please see my post on this issue here:

Photos | Pakistan Police, Rangers, Airport Security, FC, LEA, Rescue & Disaster Response Agencies.

That's more like it! M4

defence.pk

Figure 1: Example of a unified EOC: Emergency Operations Centre. Copyright Rescue Ranger 2021

Secondly, who is going to be the lead agency for handling the call routing. If we look at the US (911) or UK(999) systems, these are routed via several national call centres operated by AT&T in USA and BT in the U.K. When someone calls 999 in the UK, this call reaches ones of several BT call centres, the operator will ask the caller "Emergency, which service?" and will direct the call to the relevant regional emergency service contact centre. In the case of a silent caller the BT operator has access to the callers "subscriber" details and can pass these to the police if a call-back or visit is required.

Please see the example video below:

Figure 2:Example data flow of a call to the EOC from start to finish (C) RescueRanger 2021.

Now whilst in the US and UK the callers subscriber details are available to the emergency contact centres via BT or AT&T, etc, in Pakistan there is no such agreement to legally "intercept" the originating subscriber and pass these details onto the receiver (in this case for example Rescue 1122). As of January, 2021 there were 173.2 Million mobile connections in Pakistan(1), the majority of inbound calls to Rescue 1122 are cellular calls and this is where the problem comes:

Figure 3: Example of cellular call routing from tx(sender) via BTS to MSC to rx(receiver).

The above scenario raises a number of concerns, firstly the issue of abuse of a "toll free" emergency number. Rescue 1122 received 20,555,131 calls during 2019 across Punjab. Out of these only 1,192,044 were emergency calls. Rescue 1122 received 19,363,087 calls that were not related to any kind of emergency. (2)

The second issue comes from the possibility that the caller may terminate the call before contact details can be obtained or incident location can be ascertained, poor cellular coverage and dead-zones can also act as mitigation factors for the safety and welfare of the service user.

Figure 4: An example of how PTA may facilitate caller intercept in the case of a "silent" or anonymous caller.

The third area of concern is that of redundancies, if there is only one truncated network providing unified communication to the entire national infrastructure of emergency services, the partial or complete loss of service due to power outage or similar unmitigated crisis may create a critical incident in terms of service users unable to access emergency services, therefore a network with multiple redundancies is one consideration that needs to be addressed.

Figure 5: Example of network redundancy, allowing the (EOC: Emergency Operations Centre) to automatically switch from PSTN to GSM/Cellular network in the event of an outage.

Beyond resilience and redundancies there are the issues of interoperability, coordination and communication between multiple agencies and service providers in an emergency situation. I have written in detail about this, you can read more about this here: Leadership in Emergencies | Pakistan Defence

Next is the issue of designing a system from the ground up, this is a particularly complex and costly undertaking, I have written about the challenges and opportunities in this endeavour at length here:
Rescue 1122 "service above self" | Pakistan Defence

Another major concern is the lack of a single record management system or CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch System, every single entity that this 911 system is planning on "joining up" speaks different organisational languages, regional languages, use different operating systems and some rely completely on paper.

This will require training on a mammoth footing, again I have written a working paper on this using Balochistan as an example, you can read more about that here: Terrorism and casualty care in Balochistan | Pakistan Defence

One of the issues will be to develop a nationally accepted and uniform CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch, back in 2018 I started working with two programming students on developing a free of cost CAD solution which could be used nationally by police, fire and ambulance, sadly someone decided to steal the bulk of my work on this as is the case with many thing in Pakistan.

Here is one screenshot of a CAD which has been designed from the ground up using an open source solution:

Figure 6: Example of a CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch software developed using Open Source tools.

Public acceptance is crucial, because an informed public is the best way to get support for emergency and rescue services. Which requires investment of time, effort and ICE (Information, Communication and Education) material be in the form of media based PR, word of mouth or printed material.

In a study conducted by the Journal of Humanities and Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies, 300 people were randomly surveyed, in response to the question “In case of emergency which of the following will reach you first?” most of the respondents, 245 out of 277, thought that Rescue 1122 would reach first. This reflected the public confidence in the service.

Finally, there is an issue of resource. As someone who is speaking from personal, first hand experience, outside of the major cities, the capacity for these rural services to cope with demand, simply doesn't exist. I talk about upskilling and capacity development of emergency services in Pakistan to cope with modern demand in this post: Policing the Police | Pakistan Defence

In closing, I do wish this project all the success with full sincerity, however it is important to remember that this is not simply a matter of "reinventing the wheel", reinventing the wheel is a good thing, but before you do, it should be clear "why and how" are you going to re-invent it.

References:
(1) Digital Pakistan, Simon Kemp: Digital in Pakistan: All the Statistics You Need in 2021 — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights , accessed on 14062021
(2) Rescue 1122 receives over 94% fake calls. Express Tribune - Rescue 1122 receives over 94% fake calls (tribune.com.pk) , accessed on 14062021

 

[Zarvan]

Yes, well sadly please forgive me for not being optimistic about this, but I have my reasons. Some of which I will explain here.

Pakistan has a kichri of emergency hotlines and helplines, some of which I have included for you below:

• Edhi 115
• Chhipa Ambulance 1020
• Sindh Peoples Ambulance 1023
• Rescue 1122
• Rescue 15
• Rangers 1101
• Anti Terrorism Hotline 1135
• Pakistan Medical Assistance Hotline 1166
• Aman Ambulance 1021
• Fire Service 16
• Child Protection 1121
• Cyber Crime 9911
• Covid Helpline 1166
• Police Corruption 8787
• Disaster Management Hotline 1129
• Highway and Motorway Police 130
• Gas Emergency Hotline 1199
• Electricity Emergency 118
• Water Board 111-305-305
• Coast Guard Search and Rescue 021-99215251
• Wildlife Animal Rescue: 051-2601912

Now looking at all these numbers, people could be forgiven for thinking that one number such as 911 would be a great change, one that would mean that those in need of assistance can get the right help at the right time from the right people.

However, when you look at this massive list of telephone numbers, you have to ask yourself, who is staffing these numbers? What is the call handling SLA? What is the brand equity and consumer confidence for each of these numbers.

Now, Pakistan already has two very well established emergency numbers, these are 15 (Founded by the late Naasir Khan Durrani in 1998) and Rescue 1122 (founded by Dr. Rizwan Nasir in 2004). Both these numbers and their associated brands have acceptance among the public and varying degrees of recognition as being bonafide emergency numbers.

One of the issues that concerns me, based on my experience and research concerns the call routing, call handling and resourcing of these calls. To have a look at demand management and service level agreements, please see my post on this issue here:

Photos | Pakistan Police, Rangers, Airport Security, FC, LEA, Rescue & Disaster Response Agencies.

That's more like it! M4

defence.pk

View attachment 753477
Figure 1: Example of a unified EOC: Emergency Operations Centre. Copyright Rescue Ranger 2021

Secondly, who is going to be the lead agency for handling the call routing. If we look at the US (911) or UK(999) systems, these are routed via several national call centres operated by AT&T in USA and BT in the U.K. When someone calls 999 in the UK, this call reaches ones of several BT call centres, the operator will ask the caller "Emergency, which service?" and will direct the call to the relevant regional emergency service contact centre. In the case of a silent caller the BT operator has access to the callers "subscriber" details and can pass these to the police if a call-back or visit is required.

Please see the example video below:

View attachment 753478
Figure 2:Example data flow of a call to the EOC from start to finish (C) RescueRanger 2021.

Now whilst in the US and UK the callers subscriber details are available to the emergency contact centres via BT or AT&T, etc, in Pakistan there is no such agreement to legally "intercept" the originating subscriber and pass these details onto the receiver (in this case for example Rescue 1122). As of January, 2021 there were 173.2 Million mobile connections in Pakistan(1), the majority of inbound calls to Rescue 1122 are cellular calls and this is where the problem comes:

View attachment 753465
Figure 3: Example of cellular call routing from tx(sender) via BTS to MSC to rx(receiver).

The above scenario raises a number of concerns, firstly the issue of abuse of a "toll free" emergency number. Rescue 1122 received 20,555,131 calls during 2019 across Punjab. Out of these only 1,192,044 were emergency calls. Rescue 1122 received 19,363,087 calls that were not related to any kind of emergency. (2)

The second issue comes from the possibility that the caller may terminate the call before contact details can be obtained or incident location can be ascertained, poor cellular coverage and dead-zones can also act as mitigation factors for the safety and welfare of the service user.
View attachment 753471
Figure 4: An example of how PTA may facilitate caller intercept in the case of a "silent" or anonymous caller.

The third area of concern is that of redundancies, if there is only one truncated network providing unified communication to the entire national infrastructure of emergency services, the partial or complete loss of service due to power outage or similar unmitigated crisis may create a critical incident in terms of service users unable to access emergency services, therefore a network with multiple redundancies is one consideration that needs to be addressed.
View attachment 753474
Figure 5: Example of network redundancy, allowing the (EOC: Emergency Operations Centre) to automatically switch from PSTN to GSM/Cellular network in the event of an outage.

Beyond resilience and redundancies there are the issues of interoperability, coordination and communication between multiple agencies and service providers in an emergency situation. I have written in detail about this, you can read more about this here: Leadership in Emergencies | Pakistan Defence

Next is the issue of designing a system from the ground up, this is a particularly complex and costly undertaking, I have written about the challenges and opportunities in this endeavour at length here:
Rescue 1122 "service above self" | Pakistan Defence

Another major concern is the lack of a single record management system or CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch System, every single entity that this 911 system is planning on "joining up" speaks different organisational languages, regional languages, use different operating systems and some rely completely on paper.

This will require training on a mammoth footing, again I have written a working paper on this using Balochistan as an example, you can read more about that here: Terrorism and casualty care in Balochistan | Pakistan Defence

One of the issues will be to develop a nationally accepted and uniform CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch, back in 2018 I started working with two programming students on developing a free of cost CAD solution which could be used nationally by police, fire and ambulance, sadly someone decided to steal the bulk of my work on this as is the case with many thing in Pakistan.

Here is one screenshot of a CAD which has been designed from the ground up using an open source solution:
View attachment 753476
Figure 6: Example of a CAD: Computer Aided Dispatch software developed using Open Source tools.

Public acceptance is crucial, because an informed public is the best way to get support for emergency and rescue services. Which requires investment of time, effort and ICE (Information, Communication and Education) material be in the form of media based PR, word of mouth or printed material.

In a study conducted by the Journal of Humanities and Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Studies, 300 people were randomly surveyed, in response to the question “In case of emergency which of the following will reach you first?” most of the respondents, 245 out of 277, thought that Rescue 1122 would reach first. This reflected the public confidence in the service.

View attachment 753480

Finally, there is an issue of resource. As someone who is speaking from personal, first hand experience, outside of the major cities, the capacity for these rural services to cope with demand, simply doesn't exist. I talk about upskilling and capacity development of emergency services in Pakistan to cope with modern demand in this post: Policing the Police | Pakistan Defence

View attachment 753482
In closing, I do wish this project all the success with full sincerity, however it is important to remember that this is not simply a matter of "reinventing the wheel", reinventing the wheel is a good thing, but before you do, it should be clear "why and how" are you going to re-invent it.

References:
(1) Digital Pakistan, Simon Kemp: Digital in Pakistan: All the Statistics You Need in 2021 — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights , accessed on 14062021
(2) Rescue 1122 receives over 94% fake calls. Express Tribune - Rescue 1122 receives over 94% fake calls (tribune.com.pk) , accessed on 14062021

Sir my issue is you can't have so many hotlines. Eventually you have to reduce them to one. If we have a mess that doesn't mean we continue with mess. Secondly like I said before our real issue is lack of Police cars and patrol and Ambulances and Fire Brigade trucks to respond. That issue needs to be tackled. Until we build that capacity just reducing all emergency numbers into one won't work. Sindh needs 1122 kind of service not Edhi and Chippa and charity organizations providing ambulance service specially in your most important city.

 

[ghazi52]

 

[RescueRanger]

Sir my issue is you can't have so many hotlines. Eventually you have to reduce them to one. If we have a mess that doesn't mean we continue with mess. Secondly like I said before our real issue is lack of Police cars and patrol and Ambulances and Fire Brigade trucks to respond. That issue needs to be tackled. Until we build that capacity just reducing all emergency numbers into one won't work. Sindh needs 1122 kind of service not Edhi and Chippa and charity organizations providing ambulance service specially in your most important city.

Agreed, I am only worried about the logistics of this exercise. Having one number will be a very good thing.

However they first need to have a competent emergency management system across the country.

 

[Mandalorian_CA]

I can understand the limitations in your pea brain, your every thing revolves around the poop, , looks like its your family trait to eat poop, that is all you can get while on benefits in canada, wondering what else you are surviving with, wait that is too much to think about through your pea brain.

well poop is more nutritous than garbage atleast we get benefits in Canada not like you orphans who get nothing. Seems You and your family are usually eating garbage and lots of donkeys thats why your acting like a pig. If we do not send you money from outside you'll be selliing yourself to your neigbours. lol Anyways i wont be replying anymore to you because normally people in Pakistan have nothing better to do than to sit on forums and bark their frustration out. Perhaps u need to get laid buddy . Try your cousin first.