The next time you feel that someone is following you when walking alone late at night or caught in the middle of an accident, don’t panic. All you have to do is simply call or SMS— 022-66-300-300 — and you will be rescued within minutes.
An architect couple have started Abhyan SOS, a helpline on the lines of 911 in the United States, to help people in distress. The service will be officially launched on January 26.
Instead of dialing different numbers for different services like fire and ambulance, this helpline will get in touch with all these services and send them to your aid, just like the 911 service. It covers all kind of emergencies from road side violence to eve-teasing to fire and other medical emergencies.
Shalaka Lalwani, founder of the service, says the helpline has been started with an aim to provide swift assistance to those in need by simultaneously coordinating with all services such as police, ambulance, fire brigade and others.
When you are caught in an emergency situation and even unable to talk on the phone, just a missed call or an SMS will also be considered as a call for help and police or private security guards will be sent for your rescue.
“In India, we have helplines available for everything, but they are separate helplines for separate services. It is not possible for one person to remember so many numbers, especially when caught in an emergency situation. In the US, 911 helps people in any kind of emergency. We wish to do the same,’’ she said, adding that they have a mechanism that screens calls to ensure that time is not wasted answering prank calls.
All you have to do is register on its website abhyansos.com, where you will have to fill in information of your emergency contacts, medical history and other details. This will help the service in not just contacting the police or ambulance when you are in trouble but it will also contact your emergency contacts.
In fact, it can also publish your SOS to all your social networking sites. For instance if someone is trying to break into your house, the helpline can contact the police, but also your neighbours who can be the fastest to help you out.
Moreover, using your medical information, the helpline will share your medical details with the doctors so that you get swift treatment. Using its precautionary call service, you can also ask the service to check on you every hour or more. It is also coming up with a unique tracking service that can record your last location, helping people to track you.
Shalaka says tat she and her husband Anup started working on the website two years ago and will be launching in 20 other cities.
“In the Delhi gang-rape case, the victim and her friend got help hours after the incident. This highlighted the need for a mechanism for swifter help,’’ she said.
