When people call 1122, most expect one thing: an ambulance, immediately. But in modern emergency response systems, dispatch isn’t simply about sending a vehicle — it’s about sending the right help to the right emergency at the right time.
That’s why Sindh Integrated Emergency & Health Services (SIEHS-1122) uses a Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) — a structured triage system aligned with the global approach followed by 911 emergency services in the United States — to categorise calls within seconds and prioritise response for life-threatening situations.
In Sindh, the stakes are massive. With a population of around 60 million, SIEHS-1122 manages emergency coverage across the province through a fleet of 627+ vehicles, spanning all 30 districts and 9 talukas. And the demand never pauses: the service receives approximately 24,000 calls every day.
That’s also why SIEHS-1122 ambulances cannot be treated as taxis or routine transport services. These are critical care units on wheels — designed to respond to emergencies where minutes decide outcomes. When a call is triaged as non-critical, it isn’t ignored; it is assessed within the system so that ambulances remain available for the cases that cannot wait.
This is where public frustration often begins:
‘WE CALLED, BUT WE DIDN’T GET AN AMBULANCE.’
Yet that decision is often the difference between life and death — for someone else.
If ambulances were dispatched for every non-emergency complaint — including issues that can be managed through alternative healthcare channels — the system would slow down where speed matters most: cardiac arrests, severe trauma, stroke symptoms, breathing emergencies, childbirth complications, and major road incidents.
MPDS ensures that ambulances are dispatched based on medical priority, not just urgency in a caller’s voice. It protects response times for those whose survival depends on it — because in emergency care, the wrong dispatch is not just inefficient; it can be fatal.
And it’s working. Over time, SIEHS-1122 has saved over 6.4 million lives through state-of-the-art ambulance services — ICU-on-wheels units equipped with 29 essential medical interventions and tools — a reminder that behind every statistic is a moment when someone needed help and heard the most important sentence of all: ‘HOPE…. IS ON THE WAY.’
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