Egypt’s ‘112’ hotline is set to become the country’s first-ever National Emergency Network – a centralized means of contacting ambulance, police, firefighters, and road emergency services, according to Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar on 31 October 2022.

“Simply speaking, the National Emergency Network acts as Egypt’s ‘911’ as seen in America and Hollywood movies,” explained Abdel Ghaffar during a television interview.

Abdel Ghaffar also affirmed that the hotline will be accessible 24 hours a day throughout the year, including during national holidays. The network also aims to reduce response times for ambulances, which currently arrive at an average of 8 to 15 minutes.

HOW DOES ‘112’ WORK?

Upon dialing ‘112’, the caller’s location is automatically detected at the start of the call, in case of fallen communication, followed by the appropriate emergency response service swiftly moving to the location.

The National Emergency Network tracks all emergency cases through a dedicated satellite that locates the nearest emergency responder, be it ambulance, police, firefighters, or road assistance.

The network holds 2,187 sites in total located across Egypt, to ensure swift and secure communication. In Cairo, the sites are split into nine districts, with 537 sites covering Greater Cairo and 78 sites covering New Cairo.

The project – which aims to ensure instant and unified responses and eliminate hotline number confusion – is set to be finalized within four months, as it transitions from multiple emergency hotlines to ‘112’.

In the meantime, each emergency service maintains its own hotline: Ambulance services can be reached through ‘123’, fire fighting can be contacted through ‘125’, the police can be called upon through ‘122’, and traffic emergency units respond through ‘126’.

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