Emergency number 108 gets 15000 prank calls per day
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- Pandora Box
- Friday, 01 June 2012 16:39
- Published on Friday, 01 June 2012 16:39
- Hits: 787
Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad
108, the emergency medical aid number, is a number a person would least want to call in his life. But for some flagrant minds from the city, calling up the emergency number seems to be a cheap source of fun. 77,345 prank calls have been received by 108 EMRI, from just one particular number in the past two years, an average of 105 prank calls a day.
The pranks calls have been increasing in number over the past years. GVK EMRI officials have revealed that they receive more than 15000 hoax calls a day. Out of the 170000 calls received in a day, only 2000 are genuine. Tired of the constant rise in the numbers, officials have resorted to filing police complaints and have urged officials to investigate the matter.Â
"Professionals working at the call center are trained to cope with stress and maintain quality of service. However, how can one expect to cope with the fact that there are several persons who make more than 1,000 calls to 108 just for fun? We have identified a number that has recorded 77,345prank calls over the past two years." Said an official.
Officials said that abusive or nuisance calls not only affect employee but also increase workload and take away precious time that can save somebody's life.Â
"Our first action is to counsel the caller about the importance of the number," said the official. "When it does not work, we let police officials at the call center take charge. When all fails, we file a police complaint against the caller. We are in no mood to let this menace continue."
Undesirable calls include those giving wrong information about an incident and asking for an ambulance without any specific case. Some make blank calls or use abusive language with female staff members.
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