KOTA KINABALU, Sept 9 — Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor urged the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 to be improved, including directly connecting the calls to the number of districts and states involved especially in Sabah.
He said every call made to MERS 999 was definitely an emergency and in such a situation, there would be no time to provide the necessary information.
“When we know the emergency call is from Sabah, then the call should be directed to the Fire and Rescue Department at the related district or state or provide the contact numbers,” he said in a statement today.
He was commenting on the alleged delay response by the Sabah Fire and Rescue Department firefighters following a fire that killed a family of four in Taman Hungab, Penampang on Tuesday.
Hajiji said the incident was very regrettable as safety issues such as emergency calls should not be referred to Kuala Lumpur first and delaying the response time to rescue victims.
He also reminded the public to keep important contact numbers such as the police station, fire department and hospitals available at all times.
