Call for help: Residents dial 112 as infections rise
As Covid-19 infections continue to surge across the Capital, residents are calling the police helpline number 112 requesting all sorts of help -from arranging ambulances and oxygen cylinders for patients to getting tested for Covid-19.
According to police control room (PCR) data, seen by Hindustan Times, the 112 number is getting over 500 calls every day for the past few days, and the police expect this to rise over the rest of the week.
The calls to 112 are different from those received by the Covid-19 helpline -- 011-23469900 -launched by police last week. That helpline receives around 900 calls daily, and a majority of them are regarding movement passes during the six-day curfew that kicked in on Monday night, as well as queries about the coronavirus disease itself.
The police data is indicative of the scale of the crisis the city is facing. To be sure, there are dedicated helplines for hospitals beds, medicines and medical aid that have been flooded with calls.
PCR call data for April shows that the most number of calls were related to unavailability of ambulances. On Tuesday, the control room received 210 calls from citizens who complained that they were unable to get a government or private ambulance. A day before that, the 112 number received 152 calls for ambulance services. Police, without revealing the exact numbers, said crime-related calls have dropped over the past few days, and attributed this to the night curfew and the ongoing curfew.
Police said these calls had increased all of a sudden. Data shows that on April 1, there were only three such calls, followed by two on April 2, and three on April 3. The data shows that calls for ambulance services increased after April 5, when the national capital started recording at least 5,000 cases daily -- the 5,000-mark was breached on April 6 with
5,100 cases and cases have been rising steadily since then -- putting a strain on the health facilities.
The positivity rate of the disease has also increased to over 30% in the last few days -- it was 32.82% on Tuesday. This means that one in every three persons tested was turning out positive for the disease. Apart from calls for ambulances, police are receiving an average of 10 calls requesting oxygen cylinders. On Tuesday, 15 such calls were received. Police officers manning the telephone lines said these calls were mostly from hospitals short on supply.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said: “On Tuesday, as reports poured in from the control room and police stations about medical professionals requesting oxygen cylinders, a meeting was held by the police brass at the headquarters. A message was sent to everyone on the field that such calls were to be given priority. Personnel posted in PCR vans were told to wear PPE kits and use the vans as ambulances when needed. Every police station was told to gather information about oxygen cylinders and
ensure that it reached hospitals. The traffic police was told to coordinate with other units and open a ‘green corridor’ for vehicles carrying oxygen to hospitals. As soon as the meeting was over, around 3.15pm, a 71-yearold lady who lives alone in Bharat Nagar suffered a critical reduction in oxygen levels -- it dropped below 50, from an optimum of 95% or higher. Our officers went to her house and got her admitted to the Deep Chand Bandu hospital. Such interventions are too many to detail.”
On Wednesday, for example, a call was received from doctors of Amarleela Hospital in west Delhi’s Janakpuri. The caller informed the police that the lives of 32 Covid patients were at risk as their oxygen stock was “nearly finished”. Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal said,” Our police team immediately contacted oxygen cylinder suppliers in and around the area. They found one in Kirti Nagar. An emergency response vehicle, which is normally used for security reasons, was rushed to the storage point to collect cylinders. They then went to Gole Market and Mayapuri to arrange for more cylinders.
They finally managed to find 11 cylinders.”
Until Wednesday afternoon, police received four such calls on the day.
The PCR vans were also doubling as hearse vans to transport bodies to the crematoriums and cemeteries, officials said.
On Sunday, the control room received information about a 93-year-old woman dying of Covid-19 in Dwarka, and her family members searching for a hearse. A PCR van transported her body to the hospital, and later to the cremation ground. Unlike last year, the control room was flooded with calls about lack of food and supplies during the lockdown, this month, police have received only 11 such calls. In the first week of April last year (first two weeks of the nationwide lockdown), the 112 number received at least 100 such calls.
“There were no calls related to food or starvation in the past two days. On April 17 and 18, there were three and six calls respectively, but that was more about delivery of food because of the weekend lockdown,” a second officer said, asking not to be named.