Controversy rocks single hotline -112

All emergency numbers in the country have been merged into one number, 112.

Persons in distress can now reach personnel of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service and the National Ambulance Service on the 112 hotline.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the new number at the ceremony to commission the 307 ambulances procured to deliver emergency healthcare services.

However, the Happy Morning how (HappyHMS) team received numerous calls from listeners which suggest that the single hotline -112 is not effective whilst others said they received an immediate response from the hotline.

Following the controversy, the HMS team also tried the single hotline for about 15 minutes but received no response though it went through.

“I tried the single hotline this morning, it went through but no one answered, “a listener said.

“Are you guys sure you are trying the correct emergence single hotline?” another listener quizzed the hosts. “I just tried and spoke to a lady from the emergency centre,” he added.

Prior to the complaint from listeners of HMS, the president assured Ghanaians how responsive and effective the single hotline is.

He further cautioned against the abuse of emergency call numbers as they have the potential to jeopardize the lives of others in dire need of the services.
“We’re told that 90 per cent of calls made to the providers of emergency services are usually pranked calls. This is not right as it only endangers the lives of Ghanaians in need” President Akufo Addo noted.

The President’s advice is coming on the heels of a police frustration with prank calls.
In March last year, the Daily Graphic reported that more than 750,500 prank calls were recorded at the three Police Emergency Command Centres (PECCs) between midnight of January 1, 2019, and midday of March 27, 2019.

Out of the 761,101 calls made to the three PEECs in Accra, Kumasi, and Tamale, 751,217 were prank calls, while only 9,884 were genuine calls.

This data means on average more than 8,000 prank calls were recorded to the command centres.

A prank call is a mischievous telephone call made to trick someone and is often a nuisance call done to irritate the person answering the call.

By: Joseph Nii Ankrah. Twitter: @niiocanta