Indonesia Launches National Emergency Hotline

The Ministry of Health partnered with 10 telecommunication service providers to launch a national health emergency hotline similar to the United States government's 911 emergency hotline number.

According to Akmal Taher, the Health Ministry's director general for health development, the hotline number, 119, would allow the public to obtain information regarding the availability of hospital rooms as well as make emergency requests for an ambulance.

"In the future, we will no longer see patients being rejected by hospitals when they are in dire need of health assistance. They can simply dial the number to get information about the nearest available hospitals," Akmal told reporters on Monday. The 119 emergency hotline was first launched in Jakarta early this year, in cooperation with PT Telkom Indonesia. The service is now being expanded nationwide as part of the Ministry's Memorandum of Understanding with the following key stakeholders: PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia; PT Telekomunikasi Selular; PT Indosat; PT XL Axiata; PT Smartfren Telecom; PT Bakrie Telecom; PT Axis Telekom Indonesia; PT Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia; PT Smart Telecom and PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Chairul Rajab Nasution, the ministry's health referral system director, estimated the service to be ready for full implementation across all provinces by 2014.

Nasution added that they hope address certain drawbacks such as the need to key in the area code when dialling the 119 hotline number.

(source: www.futuregov.asia)