Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of St John’s Service warns of prank calls
BY INDY MAEALASIA
CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of Saint John’s Ambulance Service Solomon Islands, Michael Andrew has warned the general public from using their service’s toll-free number to make prank calls.
“Please don’t use the line as a prank call, we have received so many calls a year, we can only respond to people with genuine emergencies,” Mr Andrew said.
The CEO made the appeal during the official handover and blessing of two donated ambulances at the St Barnabas cathedral yesterday.
Responding to an estimated thousands of calls each year, Andrew said they do not have the time to deal with such prank calls.
A clinician of St John’s, Dickson Ngeobuli also described a prank call they usually receive.
“Sometimes they would call the ambulance and say there is an emergency here you need to come and take them to the hospital but when we reach the location, we ask around but there is no one,” he said.
He discouraged people from such behaviour and to understand that ambulances are specifically used to save lives.
Apart from making the appeal, the CEO encouraged the general public to contact them via their toll free number for genuine emergencies only.
“If you require an ambulance in a life threating emergency, you could call the toll-free number 111 or 911 for an emergency ambulance,” he added.
