Rescue 112

“Ok sir, this is the call centre for handbag thefts only. Please call 11111 for a hostage situation and 22222 for medical assistance, but not 33333, because that's for near-fatalities only.”

This is close to what we would hear if SA had its own version of the US's “Rescue 911” television programme, and is precisely the reason why we don't have such a show.

Programmes of that nature are meant to show the efficient reactions of emergency personnel when they're called for help. It's about the success of the emergency system.

Now, if we did have such a programme in SA, what we would see is a panicked, traumatised person in need of help, much like on Rescue 911. Their natural instinct would be to call for help, much like in Rescue 911. And here's where the fundamental difference kicks in.

The South African caller has to figure out who they'd like to wait for first. Do they first want to call the police to report the burglary, or the paramedics to help the family member who was shot?

Once that decision is made, they have to figure out which number to dial. When they manage this and someone eventually answers their call, they wait an average of 42 minutes for someone to respond to their emergency.

They eventually give up and run to the neighbour (who's a florist) for help. Not like in Rescue 911.

There are clearly a number of problems with the emergency call centre situation in SA.

The first is that there needs to be a single emergency number used nationwide so people don't have to stick a list of contact details for the local police and fire departments to their fridge, and then freak out when they're out of town and need to use a different number altogether.

And here's the next puzzling point. What was wrong with 10111?

Farzana Rasool, journalist, ITWeb

I may be missing some major point here, but how difficult is it to change from one telephone number to another?

Telkom's response time may not be very good either, but it can't be too much of a problem to change existing emergency numbers to a single, national one, and then to market it so that the public actually knows what it is.

And here's the next puzzling point. What was wrong with 10111? This is the number currently used to contact the police and the fire department. Millions were put into the call centres, that don't work very well, or at all, and now the Department of Communications (DOC) wants to make the national emergency number 112.

Is the DOC superstitious perhaps? Maybe they think that a different number will bring better luck?

Whatever the department's reasoning, I have a feeling it will be hard to justify, considering it put millions into 10111 and then about R80 million more, which could have gone into improving the existing 10111 centres, into a brand new pilot centre for 112.

The best part? After being stuck in pilot mode for four years, the 112 pilot centre has now been closed down.

And the DOC has, yet again, changed the deadline for the implementation of a single national emergency number to the first or second quarter of the next financial year.

The second issue is, of course, the efficiency.

There's a reason people would want to contact a call centre of this nature. It's supposed to get them help faster than calling Uncle Charlie who has a van - with no sirens or flashing lights - so that you can lie down on the way to the hospital.

There have been several complaints from citizens and opposition parties that it takes a long time to get through to an operator when calling 10111or 10177 or 107 or...

Thankfully I've never needed to call any of these numbers, but I wonder if they play music for callers while they wait. Is it like boring elevator music, or maybe something like the “Mission Impossible” soundtrack?

Studies around emergency services in SA showed that average response time is 42 minutes when calling 10111. Well, at least that gives you enough time to have something to eat and go to the bathroom before all the action starts, or maybe you could do that load of laundry that was bugging you since the morning.