Enhanced call training on for 108 staff

The organisation initiated the training of its helpline staff after the recent incident in which a distress call made by a 19-year-old boy suffering from breathlessness was mishandled, which resulted in the boy’s death. Sources from GVK EMRI said that the helpline staff could not hear the audio properly and believed it to be a prank call.

"We are conducting training for all the staff members who handle calls to the 108 helpline to ensure that persons in need can be attended by 108 ambulance even if there are no attendants available. We are checking recordings in case of calls from low network areas and unclear audios. Cardiac arrests or a medical emergency when the person at home should also be attended without having to confirm it from an attendant and such calls should not be mistaken for prank calls," said Balaji Premnath, the marketing head of GVK EMRI.

He added that to prevent such incidents in future, the staff would be trained to identify the genuine cases and respond to people when they call from areas that have poor network. Several departments at GVK EMRI has been alerted to analyse the call recordings and ensure that if the patient contacts the helpline on his own, the response protocol has to be more prompt, he added.