RIYADH, 2 August 2005 — Saudi Red Crescent employees had to use their own cell phones to respond to emergencies as all land line numbers of the emergency unit remained out of service for 30 hours. The employees used their personal numbers to receive some 80 emergency calls before the land lines became operational on Friday evening.

All telephone lines at the Saudi Red Crescent Emergency Unit were out of service since Thursday afternoon.

Saudi Red Crescent General Manager in Riyadh Ahmed Al-Salamah said all the eleven land line numbers in the Emergency Unit remained out of service for 30 hours due to an unexpected fault.

He said that those lines were the ones where employees received calls from people seeking immediate attention on the 997 number.

“We immediately called the Saudi Telecom Company and informed them about the fault. The STC people told us that the problem lay in one of the main cables of the company and that they were trying to find out the cause of the defect.

“They said the technical department of the company would hopefully fix the problem in six hours” Al-Salamah said.

“But, it took them 30 hours to restore the phones,” he added.

Al-Salamah said that in order to respond to emergencies and continue operations, he asked his employees in the Emergency Unit to call the Civil Defense Department, the Traffic Police Department and the Police Patrol Units and provide them with their mobile numbers so that the citizens could contact them directly to seek necessary medical attention.

He said that he subsequently called officials at the Saudi Arabian Television to make an announcement that the land lines of the Saudi Red Crescent were dead and that callers should contact the police on 999, the traffic police on 993, and the Civil Defense Department on 998 so they could assist them in contacting Saudi Red Crescent employees.

He said that the failure of the land lines caused a major problem because any emergency department in the world relied on phone calls in their operations.

The head of the Riyadh Saudi Red Crescent said that the office in the capital receives on average 150 calls a day from citizens reporting injuries in car accidents or medical emergencies at home.

Eleven medical centers in the capital operated under the supervision of the Saudi Red Crescent. Among the most active ones are stations located in Al-Dabab Street and Olaiysha District.