Monday 30 July 2012

Crucial and instant help is just three numbers away


PETALING JAYA: Some people may never need to call 999 in their whole lives but in times of need, these are the three numbers that they can rely on for crucial assistance or to save lives.

The situation was true for an IT manager, who wished to be known only as Goh.

He said a 999 call saved the life of his 66-year-old mother in March.

“My mother is a diabetic and on that day, her blood sugar level dropped tremendously for unknown reasons. She was semi-conscious and did not know what was happening,” said the 33-year-old.

Although the hospital was near to his house in SS2 here, Goh could not move her out by himself and decided to call 999 for help.


“In less than 30 seconds, the person who answered transferred my call to the nearest hospital and gave my address to them. The ambulance from the University Malaya Medical Centre arrived within 15 minutes.

“The call saved my mother's life. It prevented her from suffering brain damage because time is of the essence when someone's blood sugar level drops suddenly,” Goh said.

In another account, advertising executive Mohamed Ali Hussin, 27, whose car was smashed by robbers in Sungai Buloh, said response from the 999 emergency line was swift.

However, there are also those who did not get satisfactory service after calling 999.

G. Kumari called the number after she witnessed a road accident in Kuala Lumpur.

“When I called 999, the person who answered insisted that I gave him the exact kilometre of the location.

“But I did not know because the accident did not happen on a highway. It was just a junction in the city,” said the 42-year-old teacher.

She said the call handler should have been properly trained to handle such situations.

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