PETALING JAYA: The Communications Ministry and the Health Ministry will form a special committee to ensure the efficiency of the fully operational Next Generation Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 (NG MERS 999) system.
In a Friday (Nov 21) joint statement, the two ministries said the Cabinet was briefed on the implementation of the system operated by Telekom Malaysia Berhad.
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“This committee will review all technical, operational, and inter-agency coordination issues in emergency response.
“It will also ensure that the delivery of emergency services remains smooth and safe, including immediate actions for system improvements from time to time; and provide weekly reports to the Cabinet on implementation status, operational effectiveness, key performance indicators and recommendations for short- and long-term solutions,” stated the joint statement.
It also said that the Health Ministry was implementing interim workflow adjustments to ensure that the system's clinical and medical responses remain at optimal levels.
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“Workflow adjustments only involve internal processes for managing medical emergency calls under the Health Ministry. The 999 Response Centre (RC) will continue to receive calls through NG MERS 999. The Medical Emergency Coordination Centre (MECC) remains part of the NG MERS 999 ecosystem and coordinates calls requiring the involvement of other agencies through the NG MERS 999 control centre.
“With these adjustments, the ambulance activation process can be conducted more systematically, following a workflow that has previously proven stable before full integration is completed,” said the statement.
This statement was made in response to public backlash, when many users shared their experiences of long waits for ambulances during emergencies after the system went live on Nov 16.
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The statement also said that both the Communications Minister and the Health Minister inspected the NG MERS 999 Control Centre on Friday.
“Since NG MERS 999 began operating until noon today (Nov 21), it has handled 323,957 calls managed by 170 professional emergency officers across 1,302 workstations.
“95% of calls were processed within eight seconds.
“A 24-hour Technical Support Centre is also available nationwide to provide support and maintenance services as needed,” said the statement.
