Helpline: In case of emergency…

Phone operators working at helpline services have a tough job in which lives are at stake.

KARACHI:

Afzal, 23, is all alert. His eyes are fixated on the telephone set in front of him.

“A person can lose his life if I keep on asking questions and delay the service,” he says. “All I need to know is the basic information and send an ambulance.”

Afzal is a phone operator working at the Edhi Foundation emergency helpline. When he is on duty, calls made to ‘115’ are directed to him.

He knows that as soon as the phone rings, he only has sixty seconds to comprehend the complete picture – the dilemma of the caller, the address, the contact number – and then dispatch an ambulance instantly. Lives are at stake.

On call all day

Many people cannot realise the effort put in by a phone operator at an emergency helpline.

According to Azhar Haroon, another phone operator, work cannot be missed at any cost.

“At times I have to reach my work place amidst gunfire, rain and strikes,” says Haroon. “My seat is occupied even when I am not there.”

The operators also have to memorize all the numbers of other centers and have the names of localities and towns on their fingertips. They get only two days off in a month.

And yet, the toughest thing to do is to remain calm, especially when dealing with nervous or panicky callers.

An operator, requesting anonymity, recalls. “I once got a phone call from Agra Taj. Someone was shrieking that a shooting went on. Suddenly I heard a scream and the caller went silent. He was shot dead.”

Feeding the soul

Haroon is a commerce graduate. Before joining Edhi three years ago, he worked at an Urdu Bazaar bookstore. He has no plans of quitting although he admits “the work is stressful”. But the commitment to save lives and helping humanity gives me strength,” says the bearded young man. “Once, an accident victim I dispatched an ambulance to called me back a few days later just to say thanks. His expression of gratefulness will always stay with me.”

Afzal, too, is not going anywhere. He has been working for three months at the organisation’s control room, situated at the headquarters at Merewether Tower, a famous landmark in the city.

True and false

He tells me that a major problem is the hoax calls. Within 30 minutes, Afzal received a phone call with men laughing in the background, four missed calls, and two callers who did not say anything.

“We have to pick up each and every call. People lie about incidents they want to talk to you only because they are no other thing to do,” he says, disgruntled. “Their calls not only waste time, they clog the phone lines.”

Soon enough, a caller asks for an ambulance at a place in Mauripur, claiming that an accident had taken place there. Only 15 minutes later, the vehicle returns from the spot with no evidence of an accident. “This is part of our routine. Some people just love to lie,” says Afzal.

“It is a pity that 80 per cent of the calls are fake,” he says.

Besides Edhi, there are other organisations too that provide emergency ambulance service in this big city.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2013.