Emergency helpline number will be 108 across country

Chennai: India is gradually moving to use one emergency telephone number across the country, 108, on the lines of America's 911 and Britain's 999.

In June, the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand adopted this number for providing emergency services. A 108 service for Delhi is in the pipeline.

The three-year-old Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) service also operates in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir, hoping to provide services to 100 million people by 2010.

"This is India's first coordinated response service, at one number across the country, like the UK's 999 and Europe's 112, taking a call every two seconds," Venkat Changavali, CEO of EMRI, said.

The 108 service in India is ambulance-based. It has more than 600 advanced life-saving ambulances operating in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The Tamil Nadu Government has made available 200 such emergency medical technician-manned ambulances for the EMRI service.

"The service is free of charge," Changavali said. "Even necessary hospitalisation for the first 48 hours is free."

India's 28 states and seven union territories have long had different emergency numbers. There are different numbers for police and fire services. Hospitals provide different numbers for ambulance services, and disaster management services have different telephone numbers.

For example, 100 is for police, traffic police is 103 and if you are outside the city, it is 108. Perhaps, actually, it is the hospital service 102 that should be first called if lives are to be saved.

If people get to know and use just one number, saving a life becomes that much easier, say those who support 108.