• Home

‘Get priorities right while dialling 999’

DUBAI — Have you ever have dialled 999 for a panadol? If your answer is yes, then you have rightly remembered the unified emergency number. But you urgently need to get your medical priorities right.

Officials from the Unified Ambulance Centre (UAC) disclosed that the unified emergency number 999 was even being used to order the commonly used medicine.

“It is a great shock for us, because people need to get their priorities right in their use of the number and that too, urgently. There is an extreme lack of awareness in this regard,” says Omar Sakaf, Training Director of the Unified Ambulance Centre, Dubai.

“We have received all kinds of calls on this number,” he told Khaleej Times, while answering emergency calls.

“People have unnecessary called ambulances, putting at risk life of other patients who might require this free service more than anything else,” he adds.

“This is misuse of a free service being provided for by the Department of Health and Medical Services,” he says.

Explaining the working of the system, Sakaf says that after a person dials 999, the call is received at the control room, which then designates it to the department concerned, including the police, depending on the nature of the emergency. The Unified Ambulance Centre receives 115-120 calls per day. And the number of calls is increasing, says Sakaf.

“We use the Tetra System (walkie talkie) to keep in touch during emergencies, backed up with a proper navigation system,” he said, adding that sometimes the medical dispatch team reacts even without being told to, as the Tetra is monitored continuously through different channels.

“Increasing public awareness regarding the use of the number is a necessity. He says that in an emergency situation, the caller must try and remain calm.

“Getting tensed only worsens the scenario. The caller is required to give a precise location of the accident site so that help in the arrival of the service without waste of time. He should also be able to describe the nature of the accident correctly and should only stay at the place of emergency if he has received, at least, basic training in first aid,” said Sakaf.

“If needed, trained personnel from the control room stay online with the caller, guiding him until the ambulance arrives,” he added.

Sakaf also said that people should not crowd the area where the accident has taken place. “Most importantly, people should learn to give way to the ambulance,” he added.

“I suggest that new drivers should be given a course in First Aid during their initial training period. People should also know that wearing the seat belt will lessen their injury during an accident, ” Sakaf said.

The department, at present, has 84 ambulances out of which four are responders, six are bikes and two are mobile ambulances. The total number of paramedics at the department are 500, out of which 75 are female. There are 43 ambulance stations all over Dubai.