Angelov: Citizens do not know enough that there is a 112 number for emergency calls

Photo: MIA

Citizens are insufficiently aware of the existence of the emergency number. Starting from February last year, within the framework of the Crisis Management Center, the single emergency call number 112 has been active, which citizens can call if they have an urgent need for the police, ambulance, fire department or have any other emergency. The E112 Sector has two departments - the Quality Control Department and the Department for Managing Calls to the Emergency Number 112, which includes the regional offices that receive calls from their regions, that is, eight larger centers Kumanovo, Shtip, Ohrid, Strumica, Veles , Bitola and Tetovo. Citizens can report cases in Macedonian, Albanian and English.

In a video statement for MIA, the director of the Center for Crisis Management, Stojanche Angelov, says that they as an institution have made a small campaign, but, as he points out, the legal restrictions and the attitude of the Government not to pay the media for advertisements of state institutions limit them in the possibility the number 112 should be advertised more so that most citizens know about the existence of this number.

He emphasizes that they have initiated a survey of public opinion through a telephone survey to see how many of the citizens are familiar with the number 112 and the responsibilities.

Ivica Dodevski, head of the Department for managing calls to E-112 in CMC, in a video statement for MIA, emphasizes that in 15 months they received 660 thousand calls, of which 520 thousand were answered, and 145 thousand calls were abandoned. Dodevski explains that abandoned calls are calls in which the callers dialed the number by mistake.

Citizens mostly call the police for their needs

Dodevski says that so far they have received the most calls to the police, followed by emergency medical services. He informs that the most calls to the telephone number 112 are made between 10 am and 14 pm.

- There are fewer calls to the fire department. There are more calls to the police because there is a wider range of responsibilities that people need. All kinds of cases are reported. Here, for example, in April we have about 10 thousand calls to the police, and about seven thousand calls to emergency medical assistance, he said.

Regarding the calls, Angelov emphasizes that about 47 percent of the requests refer to needs addressed to the Ministry of the Interior, while 45 percent of the calls require emergency medical assistance, and only four percent need the territorial firefighting unit. Four percent of the total volume of calls is handled by the Department of Operations and Coordination at CMC.

Dodevski says that citizens call them for all kinds of needs.

- For example, they lost a key and need a door opened or they are looking for some information. We try to answer them, but we also let people know that the phone number is mostly for emergency calls, for people who need emergency medical, police or fire department assistance, he says.

The "Ecall" system is also available to citizens in case of traffic accidents. The CMC for MIA informs that the "Ecall" system, which is used in vehicles throughout the EU, automatically establishes a free emergency call to 112 if the vehicle is involved in a serious traffic accident.

-The same system can be activated manually if necessary. The authorized representatives of the car manufacturers have been requested to activate this service and enable the calls made by the system to come (voice and location) to the Single Emergency Call System E-112 in the Republic of North Macedonia, according to CMC.

Angelov emphasizes that, unfortunately, the existence of number 112 still needs to be worked on, because, as he says, some citizens still do not know that it is functional and exists.

- We made a small, I would say modest campaign, but the legal restrictions and the attitude of the Government not to pay the media for advertisements of state institutions do not limit us in the possibility of advertising the number 112 a little more and thus most citizens know about the existence of this number. At this moment, we initiated a survey of public opinion to see how many of the citizens are familiar with the number 112 and with the competences of our operators from the number 112. It is a telephone survey for which the procedure is ongoing. To begin with, I think that a serious telephone survey will give us a realistic idea of ​​where we are now, how many of the citizens know that the number 112 exists and which services, he says.

CMC is currently working on the migration of the number 192 to 112. Angelov informs that they have been working on the transfer, i.e. migration of the number 192 to 112, for several months.

- This migration is already in the final phase. This means that when citizens call the number 192, the system itself will transfer them to our operators at 112. Although the citizens essentially call the police at 192, they will receive the operator from Sector 112 of the Crisis Management Center, he says.

And Dodevski emphasized that they are in negotiations with the Ministry of Interior to switch to their number.

Through the project of CMC "Report danger", citizens can report any danger. Angelov informs that CMC has launched the project "Report danger", where citizens will be able to report any danger that threatens the life, health or property of citizens.

-Thanks to the reaction of the Municipality of Aerodrom, with the support of the City of Skopje, a serious wire fence has been installed, which guarantees the safety of the citizens. I would also like to thank you as a state service because you regularly cover our activities, regularly inform the citizens. Thanks also to all the media that inform the citizens, he emphasized.

Two departments operate in Sector E112, citizens can receive information in three languages

Dodevski for MIA emphasizes that the Call Center is essentially Sector E112, which consists of two departments - the Quality Control Department and the department for managing calls to the emergency number 112, and which also includes the regional offices that receive calls from their regions. these are eight larger centers: Kumanovo, Shtip, Ohrid, Strumica, Veles, Bitola and Tetovo. He points out that citizens can report cases in Macedonian, Albanian and English.

Angelov added that in some of the shifts there are people who speak French, Turkish and some other languages ​​that are used in our country. He points out that the system itself is designed in such a way that if someone receives a call in English and the operator who calls does not speak English at a high enough level, with the press of a button he transfers the number to someone who speaks English, and the same applies to the Albanian language. .

- At this moment, we have six more local units in which we have 112 operators only in day shifts. If on shift we have an operator who speaks the language of the caller in any territory of the country, I'm talking about rare moments, but they do happen, we redirect him to where we have an operator who knows how to answer the caller.

The number 112 is a European number. People who live in the European Union know that on 112 they can get any help. Our country serves as a transit country for a large number of travelers, who travel especially to Turkey, from Western European countries to Turkey, but we also have a large number of tourists. And usually if someone needs the ambulance, the police and by calling the number 112, which works in their countries, they get the same service in the Republic of North Macedonia, says Angelov.

Dodevski informs that the SMS option is currently in operation for people with disabilities, where they can send an SMS with their need or case they are reporting, and they will respond to them by SMS, but they will also consult with the specialists about the case. He announces that in the future they are working on other applications such as part of the "For emergency button" project that the Red Cross has.

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