Pakistan to get its first national emergency helpline ‘911’ in a month

Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate Pakistan’s first national emergency helpline – 911­– on first of Ramazan.

According to details, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday chaired a meeting to review measures related to Pakistan Emergency Helpline (PEHEL)-911.

All the 36 individual emergency numbers for the provision of emergency services like fire brigade, police, health assistance, disaster recovery and motorway police would be integrated into Pakistan Emergency Helpline (PEHEL)-911, the meeting told PM Imran Khan.

The prime minister was briefed that the caller will only have to dial 911 and it will be routed to the concerned emergency response department.

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During the meeting, the PM directed the authorities concerned to take all necessary measures to ensure hiccup-free operations of the helpline through trial run and soft launch before its actual launch in the holy month of Ramazan.

The meeting was attended by SAPM on Political Communication Dr Shehbaz Gill, Chairman National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) Engr. Miraj Gul, ED National Information Technology Board (NITB) Syed Hussnain Abbas Kazmi and other senior officers concerned.

PEHEL- 911 project

The Prime Minister Secretariat derived this concept from USA’s helpline 911 to give the proposed scheme ‘PEHL’ the national identity.

The work to establish the national helpline began following the Gujarpura motorway rape incident in September last year.

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The woman was gang-raped in front of her children in September last year, prompting Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch Pakistan’s first toll-free helpline number.

As a part of Digital Pakistan Initiative, the project is a joint venture of the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication and the Ministry of Interior.

National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and National Information Technology Board (NITB) of IT Ministry will provide necessary technical assistance and backend infrastructure for the smooth execution of the project.

Interior Ministry is responsible for coordination among various emergency response services at the federal and provincial levels.

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