Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said the launch of a universal emergency helpline in the country would be a one-stop emergency relief point for the people in crisis.
The prime minister was chairing a review meeting on Pakistan Emergency Helpline (PEHEL)-911.
The prime minister was briefed that all the 36 individual emergency numbers for the provision of emergency services like fire-brigade, police, health assistance, disaster recovery and motorway police etc; would be integrated into Pakistan Emergency Helpline (PEHEL)-911.
A needy person would have to dial just 911 and the call center would forward the call to the relevant government agency. During the meeting, the prime minister observed that securing life and property of the people was their utmost priority.
He also 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 Special Assistant to the PM on Political Communication Dr Shehbaz Gill, National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) Chairman Engr Miraj Gul, National Information Technology Board (NITB) Executive Director Syed Hussnain Abbas Kazmi and other senior officers concerned, the PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
Chief secretaries of Punjab, Sindh, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir joined the meeting via video link.
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.
The National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and the National Information Technology Board (NITB) of IT Ministry will provide necessary technical assistance and back-end infrastructure for the smooth execution of the project, whereas the Interior Ministry is responsible for coordination among various emergency response services at the federal and provincial levels.
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