The operators who work for the 112 Service are overloaded because of non-emergency or false calls. Some of the persons who call the service joke, insult and misinform about fires, while persons facing an emergency have to wait meanwhile. As they are not well informed or have visual impairments, some of the persons dial 112 to ask for assistance in repairing a gas pipe or simply to ask what time it is or what day of the week it is, IPN reports.
112 operator Victoria Mitrofan has told IPN that an operator deals with about 250 calls and is busy practically nonstop during the working hours. Most often the people dial 112 to call an ambulance and the largest number of calls to 112 are made between 8am and 11pm and between 4pm and 8pm and also in the period until 1am.
“There are callers who ask us when a bank opens or when a shop closes, mixing up the emergency service with the information office. Blind persons can call for 30 times a day to ask what time it is. They probably lack communication,” stated Victoria Mitrofan.
The people can also call to ask for an ambulance for minor health problems, but in such cases they need to go to the family doctor. “Some people level reproaches at us, saying they pay taxes, but do not realize that a seriously ill person somewhere really needs assistance. The callers can also report bomb hoaxes or false fires and they are fined in such cases. On holidays or on the weekend, when some can abuse alcohol, many persons dial 112 to call the police, in cases of aggression,” noted Victoria Mitrofan.
Ana Carpovici, PR specialist at the 112 Service, said the number of callers in 2020 was lower than in 2019. Fewer persons called in cases of road accidents, but more people called to ask for assistance in cases of violence.
The 112 Service has 82 operators.
