"A minute spent on an unnecessary call can cost someone's life" La Dernière Heure reported on Monday (12 September) that the emergency telephone number 112 is receiving both genuine calls for emergency assistance and prank calls or other forms of misuse.
According to figures from the Federal Home Affairs Office, the emergency call centers handled 2,772,340 million calls in 2015. Out of them 38% were for emergencies requiring assistance and 37% were qualified as "unnecessary" such as jokes, technical problems, threats and other forms of misuse.
Of the remaining calls, 9% did not require sending assistance but concerned a valid reason (for example a double call for the same incident). 12% of the calls were referred to hospitals and firefighters and 5% to an emergency ward.
Ophelia Boffa, head of communication of Civil Security, said that "112 is to be used only in emergencies because a minute spent on an unnecessary call can cost someone's life."
112 is the common emergency telephone number that can be dialed free of charge to reach emergency services (ambulance, fire and rescue, police).
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
