Georgetown: Following the assessment of the 911 emergency line system by international experts, local specialists have been recruited to review the inefficient service which has been heavily criticised by citizens over the years.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said, the ministry has put aside the process of reviewing the recommendations made by the overseas experts and is now waiting for the local team to complete their assessment.
Rohee said the local experts will be examining the deficiencies of the emergency line and make the necessary recommendations on how to improve emergency services for citizens.
“We are going an alternative path now, using local experts to see how best they can help us to address the problems we are having,” he said. While there are recommendations made by the overseas experts, further advice is needed from local specialists in the area of the technicalities of the system.
However, the Minister told this newspaper that the local experts would be doing some research and assessments of their own before considering those made by the US experts.
Earlier this year, Rohee had announced that two US experts had been recruited to review the country’s emergency hotline system. He disclosed that more than US$20,000 was approved by Cabinet for the recruitment of the experts, who were brought through a consultancy firm from the Region.
The two U.S experts arrived in Guyana early in March and after a five-day assessment, they submitted three basic recommendations to the Home Affairs Ministry for short, medium and long-term solutions. During the process, the team assessed various Police stations and held consultations with stakeholders.
The first recommendation that was made by these experts was the need for the three emergency lines – that is, 911 for Police, 912 for Fire Service and 913 for Ambulance Assistance – to be merged into one hotline. But within that one hotline number, 911, there will be dedicated emergency lines linked to technical personnel from all three areas.
Another recommendation made was for the country’s entire 911 system to be reviewed; however, this would be very costly and difficult since there is only one telephone company in Guyana that offers landline services.
Over the years, Guyanese have complained bitterly about the inefficiencies of the emergency lines in Guyana. Rohee had claimed that the unresponsiveness of the 911 system was technically linked to the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company.
He stated that sometimes 911 calls are placed and senders hear the ringtone, but the telephones on the receiving end do not ring. He added that this is one of the main reasons people are often unable to get through with the emergency service.
“This can only be a technical problem. It has to be a technical problem…. As far as I could recollect, the GT&T people are not accepting any responsibility or any blame for the 911 calls not going through to the Police stations,” the Home Affairs Minister had said.
On the other hand, the telephone giant refuted the allegation, claiming that it was being wrongfully accused and laid the blame at the feet of the Guyana Police Force.
GT&T explained that the 911 service is installed and operated like any other landline service provided, but the 911 equipment is controlled by the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
“Hence, GT&T has no responsibility nor visibility as to manning levels and indeed whether or not there are GPF personnel tasked with 24 hours, seven days, 365-day manning of the 911 facilities across the country,” the company said in a statement.
According to the telephone company, before 2006, the Brickdam Police Station was solely responsible for receiving all 911 calls from across Guyana; however, the system was reviewed and changed in 2005 upon the request of the Force.
Responding to allegations of technical failure on part of GT&T, the company disclosed that it does weekly checks to ensure that all lines are technically functional.
“Priority is given to faults detected during the tests or complaints reported when the line is answered,” the company stated, adding that clearly, “GT&T reiterates that the unresponsiveness of the 911 personnel has nothing to do with GT&T. Our checks have revealed that the following occur with great frequency (a) the disappearance of handsets from the termination points of 911 lines at various Police stations, (b) the removal of the handset off the hook and (c) no answer by personnel during standard working hours,” the company said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.