The faith that most Indians have on government agencies is so less, that a doubt on responsiveness of emergency numbers is a given.
To clear this doubt, a Quora user asked:
What is it like to dial 100 in India? Is it as responsive as dialing 911 in USA?
There were hundreds of people who responded, but there was one answer in particular, which stood out from the rest.
The reason? It was a story of quick response and a successful rescue.
The woman was suffering from asthma and had a severe attack one day. Since she was living alone and things looked like they were getting out of hand, she called the medical emergency number, 108.
“I called and I was praying as the phone started ringing that the call gets connected soon. My call was taken in less than 2 rings and I told them that I was calling for Airway constriction and difficulty breathing (I obviously was not as coherent as that sounds).”
“The ambulance arrived at my doorstep in less than 4 minutes. I saved a lot of precious time by heading downstairs to the ground floor instead of having the paramedics search my house from the 15 houses in the building ( GPS doesn’t recognize the elevation level yet, maybe)”.
The ambulance was ready with all the medication and equipment to deal with an Asthma attack, and took her in quickly.
“By then I knew I was in good hands and would hopefully survive. I was taken to the nearest hospital and admitted. They ensured that a doctor had taken me in as a patient before leaving the scene.”
As a person who works in the healthcare sector, she thinks the executives on the other side of the phone saved her life by being responsive and effective.
She also thanked the Emergency Management and Response Institute (EMRI) for starting the helpline.
“If I hadn’t called the ambulance that day, I would have not been alive today,” she wrote.
You can read the complete post here.