“I leave here two appeals: first, we are going to end the false calls to 112, as they result in the waste of essential means to help the population. Second, when you call 112, provide all the information requested and cooperate in carrying out the actions that health professionals request. These actions can save lives,” said Teresa Machado Luciano.

The Regional Secretary for Health, who oversees the Civil Protection area in the Azores, was speaking in Angra do Heroísmo, at the opening of a conference that marked the start of the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service of Azores (SRPCBA).

According to data from the Civil Protection of the Azores, in 2019 34,000 real calls were made to 112 in the archipelago.

False calls are not recorded, but the service estimates that they are “three to four times” higher than the number of actual calls.

On European 112 Day, the president of the SRPCBA, Carlos Neves, also called for calm and collaboration from those who call the emergency number.

“What happens often is that people, due to the distress of having a close relative in need of help, lose their temper a little, so my appeal is that they listen to the recommendations, answer the questions, try to give as much information as possible, because only with as much information as possible, you can make a correct screening and send the appropriate means and with the necessary speed to proceed to the rescue”, he pointed out.

Carlos Neves guaranteed, on the other hand, that there was a reinforcement of the means of the Public Security Police (PSP), which screens the calls, in a first phase, in the Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service of the Azores.

“Since the end of last year, the situation has improved, the number of agents that the PSP has placed on the 112 line has improved. They always have at least two, and sometimes three, agents per shift and when we know of predictable bad weather situations we have good contact with the PSP, which increases the number of available agents”, he said.