Public urged to use free ambulance services
KOTA KINABALU: Former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew has urged residents here and in surrounding areas to avail themselves of the Kota Kinabalu Lions Ambulance Service Society’s 24-hour emergency ambulance hotline 088-319699 in the event of an emergency.
She said all “emergency” ambulance services provided by the Society are free of charge as indicated in a ‘reminder message’ that has gone viral on social media.
The Api Api Assemblywoman stressed that the general public must keep the number handy, pending Sabah having its own emergency call centre like Sarawak.
Liew made the call in the wake of the Federal Government ignoring calls from Sabah leaders and the people for the State to have an emergency call centre at its disposal.
“It is regrettable that undue delay in providing ambulance services due to an impractical and unrealistic system has caused unnecessary deaths here, which could have been prevented.
“In this respect, the Federal authorities’ nonchalant attitude towards Sabah’s needs at the expense of the people leaves much to be desired.
“Inaction on the part of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia is a departure from the concept of ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ (Malaysian Family). This state of affairs has made the people of Sabah very unhappy.
“Hopefully, Sabah’s own emergency call centre can be established soon without further procrastination,” she said in a statement yesterday.
Currently, all emergency calls made from Sabah to Malaysia Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 are directed to call centres outside Sabah first (for example, Kuala Lumpur), before being passed to the relevant authorities in Sabah.
MERS 999 is an integrated system combining the emergency services of five agencies comprising the Royal Malaysian Police Force, Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia, Ministry of Health, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Malaysia Civil Defence Force.
The failure of MERS 999 caused the loss of a second life in Sabah last week when an ambulance arrived at the accident scene.
In September, there were claims that firefighters lost precious time in responding to a blaze that killed a family of four in Taman Hungab, Penampang, as the distress call had to be routed to Putrajaya first under the system.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor then called for an overhaul of the MERS999 system, as it was centralised in Putrajaya.