Nearly one in three callers to the emergency number 112 abandon their call when operators fail to pick up, prompting the European Commission to urge Malta to step up its game.
The island’s emergency response is quite slow when compared to the rest of the EU, according to a commission report based on data from last year.
The data shows that of 521,000 emergency calls received on the 112 line, close to 30 per cent of callers abandoned the call after they failed to get a response.
Malta’s call abandon rate is deemed high and “a solution should be found to reduce the failure to reach the 112 operator”, according to the report.
On average, it took six seconds to answer emergency calls although more than a third were answered after 10 seconds.
The 112 service, operated by the police, is particularly weak when it comes to receiving data on the location of the caller, the commission found.
The report notes that while in the majority of member states, call location is provided to the 112 operator by phone networks in less than 10 seconds, in Malta this information – which can be vital for those at the other end of the line – takes from five to 10 minutes to be accessed. This is described as “excessively long”.
Although the report is critical of Malta’s delay in receiving this information, in Greece it takes 38 minutes. The report also highlights other aspects of Malta’s 112 services, including the high number of false calls, which last year amounted to 30.5 per cent of calls received.
Knowledge of the 112 number among the public was quite high in Malta when compared to the EU, with 63 per cent of the population aware they had to call 112 in case of emergency. The EU’s average stood at 58 per cent.
On the other hand, just 34 per cent knew they had to call the same number in case of an accident when travelling in another EU member state. This figure reached 41 per cent in the EU but is still considered to be too low.
According to the Commission, which yesterday marked European 112 Day, the service across the EU has improved but more needs to be done.
In a letter to governments, Commissioner Nellie Kroes urged member states to improve caller location and dis-abled access features of nation-al 112 systems, and to run advertising campaigns aimed at travellers.
In a statement yesterday, the Malta police issued a warning to mark the occasion saying that “misuse of the 112 number may be of risk to others who really require emergency assistance”.
The police stressed the need that the service should only be used in case of an emergency when a person’s life, health or property is in jeopardy. It should not be used for obtaining information.