The Centres proposal to introduce a single emergency response system across the country has run into problems,with the Ministry of Health expressing concern over linking the ambulances services in states with the facility. After the December 16 gangrape incident,the government had mooted a proposal to start an emergency response system on the lines of the United States 911 number. The proposal was aimed at connecting the police,fire and ambulances services and designate 100 as the only distress call number. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) had directed the Home Ministry to constitute an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) to cull out the differences and implement the system within two months. In the first phase,the project,E-9-1-1,aims to include cities with a population of over 5 lakh where all the emergency calls will be routed to the nearest public safety answering point automatically,indicating the location of the caller. However,the Ministry of Heath and Family Welfare (MoHFW) pointed that since public health is a state subject,problems may be faced in routing the ambulance services to the proposed emergency response mechanism. Officials also added that an ambulance emergency number - 108 - is already functional in 19 states and the new helpline will result in a parallel system.
