Emergency helpline number 112 has become a lifeline number for expecting mothers of Chhattisgarh. True to its purpose, Dial 112 has been rushing to help people in need of urgent help everywhere in India. However, in Chhattisgarh, it created a record of sorts and far exceeded its original purpose by rushing thousands of pregnant women to the hospital, especially during the lockdown periods. Over a period of three years, this helpline service has been able to reach 46,000 pregnant women to the hospital for safe delivery.
It was when IPS officer Dharmendra Singh Chawai was the SP of Dial 112 that the helplne service received maximum calls for help for women in labour during the two Covid lockdowns. The emergency helpline number turned into a lifeline for expecting mothers and newborns. With the help of his 500 strong team, the officer successfully expanded the service of Dial 112 and assisted thousands of women to deliver their babies safely when the country was under lockdown.
DIAL 112 TO THE RESCUE
Dial 112 is a pan-India service of a single emergency helpline number for immediate assistance from police. This number is an integration of police, fire and woman helpline numbers. This single emergency number is similar to the 911 in United States.
However, this same number has made news and won praises for assisting in the safe delivery of babies in Chhattisgarh. Around 46 thousand pregnant women were safely taken to the hospitals in 112 vehicles over a period of three years. Around 150 children were born in the vehicles. Few grateful parents even named their babies ‘DIAL 112’!
Then SP, Dial 112, Dharmendra Singh Chawai, had informed media that the nearest vehicles reach the concerned people who call dial 112 for emergency in 15 to 20 minutes maximum.
DURING PANDEMIC
He had further informed that during the period of lockdowns, the employees of the emergency number 112 didn’t pause their work. Instead, everyone was working round the clock. Many employees came in contact with the virus and many even lost their life while serving the country. “A time came when many officers came in contact with Covid but still worked according to their capacity,” SP Chawai said.
HOW THE TEAM WORKS
SP Chawai said that on a average, one lakh calls came daily to the control room of dial 112. However, many of these calls were from fake people. “On an average, six to eight thousand calls were from people who were in need. We used to divide the calls coming into the control room into hard calls, higher calls, medium calls and lower calls according to their priority. On that basis we reached out to the concerned people.”
HELP FOR ALL
This emergency number not only helped pregnant women in Chhattisgarh, but also accomplished the task of handing over 8,200 children, who had strayed, safely to their parents. Immediate assistance was provided to around 23,030 cases of arson also.
Around 829 women who were feeling insecure on the road or in some place due to some reason called dial 112 and the team reached there within 15 minutes and dropped them home safely. So far, dial 112 has provided direct help in 1,66000 cases of road accidents in the state.
The officer also informed that they saved around 8,600 people from committing suicide in three years. And afterwards, they also counselled them to raise their morale to not give up on life.
Dial 112 exists in all states of the country, but Chhattisgarh’s 112 has proved that with the right kind of leadership and the right direction, this kind of helpline and the people who man it can go beyond duty and jurisdiction to serve people and win their trust by becoming a lifeline of sorts for them.
