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Skype is not designed to call emergency services. Mobile ambulance numbers for different countries

Since August 6, visitors to the Russian-language website Skype have been greeted with a warning: “Skype is not designed to call emergency help. Skype is not a replacement for a regular phone and cannot be used to call emergency services." Up to this point, the inscription could only be found in separate subsections dedicated to interaction with fixed and mobile networks.

Phil Wolff, Editor-in-Chief of Skypejournal.com, states: "This warning has been hanging on Skype sites for years." However, unlike the English version of Skype.com, the Russian version contains only three references to the impossibility of calling emergency services.

Wolff explains: “Thus, Skype is declaring that it is not subject to the methods of urban and cellular communication". When making an emergency call, the carrier must determine the caller's location and relay that information to the destination, while Skype "doesn't know where you are," Wolff said. “This is due to the specifics of VoIP telephony,” explains Mr. Wolff. - You can use Skype from work, from home, through a firewall or from mobile phone».

Note that in countries with a more developed legal and regulatory framework for IP-telephony, there are systems in place to compensate for this shortcoming. However, they all target the open SIP protocol and do not support Skype. However, according to Mr. Wolff, there are no counter initiatives from Skype either.

In addition, according to Mr. Wolff, "it helps Skype avoid the cost of organizing calls to emergency services in more than 100 countries around the world."

Other VoIP operators in Russia are in a similar situation, including those using SIP. Finam's analyst Vladislav Kochetkov shares Mr. Wolff's opinion that companies operating in this market are not interested in additional expenses for communication with emergency services. To date, this service is not provided by any Russian SIP operator, says Mr. Kochetkov.

Such a warning - and a corresponding provision in license agreement Skype - contradicts current law“On Communications”, which requires the operator to provide the subscriber with the opportunity to call emergency services free of charge at any time. According to the director of PR at Tario ( trademark SIPNET) by Sergey Belovolov, there are no problems in this regard, because VoIP providers are not actually telephony operators - and, accordingly, do not fall under the jurisdiction of this paragraph of the Law "On Communications".

However, similar requirements are imposed on VoIP operators by the laws of other states. Thus, the US Federal Communications Commission requires companies providing IP-telephony services to provide subscribers with access to emergency services without fail. Since 2004, when, as Mr. Kochetkov noted, this initiative began to develop in the United States, the necessary legal and technological base, which has no analogues in Russia yet.

It is likely that, along with encryption inaccessible to SORM, this fact made Skype (as well as decryptable SIP telephony) an object of criticism from telecom operators and government officials. Mr. Belovolov is confident that the most likely compromise between the parties could be the creation of a single numbering system for all telephony operators. Such a system will unify and, consequently, simplify the mechanisms of interaction between voice communication service providers, emergency services and subscribers.

Ambulances are planned to be equipped with video communication. This proposal was made by the Ministry of Health of Russia. As part of the creation of a unified centralized ambulance dispatch service, it is planned to equip the vehicles with special equipment capable of receiving audio and video calls. According to the idea of the Ministry of Health, an ambulance team will be able to study information about his illnesses in an electronic medical record on the way to the patient. Innovations will function on the basis of the "112" system. According to experts, it will take about 50 thousand rubles to equip one machine.

Ambulances can equip modern equipment for video communication. It is assumed that dispatchers, if necessary, will be able to conduct an audio and video session with a team of doctors. Representatives of the Ministry of Health told Izvestia about this. A source close to the department explained that we are talking about tablets or similar devices - a final decision on the type of devices has not yet been made.

The ministry said that audio and video communication between the ambulance and the hospital can be maintained throughout the journey: both to the patient and, if necessary, during his hospitalization, in order to be able to get advice from relevant specialists online. Experts note that innovations will help to avoid controversial issues in the work of the ambulance team, as well as provide the patient with better care.

According to the plan of the Ministry of Health, after the ambulance team has received a call, information from the patient's electronic medical record will be available to it. Even before arriving at the place, doctors will be able to get acquainted with the state of health specific person. Now doctors ask the patient for this information.

Ambulance teams using tablets will receive all information about the call and, subject to the integration of the system with the regional medical information system, will be able to access the patient's electronic medical record and warn them online medical organization about the call, which will ensure the continuity of the pre-hospital and hospital stages, the Ministry of Health explained.

They reminded that now integration is being carried out in the regions of Russia information system with a system for calling emergency operational services by a single number "112".

Pavel Gagarin, chairman of the board of directors of the audit and consulting group Gradient Alpha, said that about 50,000 rubles would be required to install audio and video communications in the car. At the same time, he believes that if the Ministry of Health holds a tender for the purchase and installation of equipment in accordance with all the rules, then it will be possible to reduce costs by 20-30%.

Yury Zhulev, a member of the public council under the Ministry of Health, believes that innovations, no matter how much they cost, will help improve the quality of medical care.

With the help of audio and video communication, the ambulance team, if necessary, will be able to consult with more professional specialists. In a number of regions, this can help, - the expert believes.

He said that the public council supports the introduction of various kinds of IT technologies in the healthcare system, but one should not forget about the basic requirements. For example, it is necessary to expand the ambulance fleet - then, even without new technologies, the time for doctors to arrive at the patient will be reduced.

And the fact that now the ambulance team will be able to receive information about the patient they are going to will help to significantly reduce the time for making decisions, to understand what kind of assistance needs to be provided, whether it is necessary to be hospitalized. Even before arrival, doctors will know what the patient is suffering from, what allergic reactions. In some cases, this can save someone's life, - said Yuri Zhulev.

According to the Ministry of Health, there are 20,738 ambulances in the Russian ambulance fleet.

Very often, an emergency situation strikes us suddenly. An accident, an unfortunate fall or collision, a sharp attack of pain. Perhaps it was not you who became ill, but your companion or even a stranger on the street. No time to run to a pay phone; Fortunately, we almost always have a mobile phone with us.

How to be ready for an emergency call to doctors in any situation? Let's try to figure it out.

Let's start with the good news: there are ways to call an ambulance from your mobile. And you can now spend five minutes on this article to necessary information deposited in your memory and in your phone notebook. First, let's answer popular questions.

Frequently asked questions about calling an ambulance cell phone

Are calls to an ambulance toll free?
No, none of the carriers. To the numbers of others emergency services You can also call for free.

And even if there is no money in the account?
Moreover: even if you have a negative balance. Calls to emergency services (including an ambulance) are accepted by any operator.

How to make a call if there is no SIM card in the smartphone?
You will have to call 112. The first operator who catches your signal will transfer it to a single call center. Your location will be found by base stations registering your call.

Is it possible to call an ambulance via Skype?
No. The terms of the agreement explicitly state that Skype is not intended to call emergency services. The same applies to Viber, WhatsApp, Tango and other similar services. Therefore, even if you have installed applications for calling via the Internet, you will have to call in the traditional way.

Does the number depend on the phone model and operating system?
No. Only from your carrier.

And how quickly will the ambulance respond to such a call?
As usual. If the doctors are ready, they will leave immediately. If you are close to the hospital, they will be quick. If you are unlucky and you are far away, you will have to wait.

Mobile ambulance numbers for different countries

It is not known in which region you suddenly need to call an ambulance. If you can easily remember the number to call an ambulance from a mobile in your country, then for other countries everything is not so obvious. Asking passers-by to call an ambulance can be difficult due to the language barrier. Let's try to give a table of numbers in some countries of the world.

Russia - 030(MTS, Megafon, Beeline, TELE 2, U-tel), 903 (SkyLink, Motive), 112 (general emergency number)
Ukraine, Belarus - 103 ( ambulance), 112 (rescue services)
Bulgaria - 150
Moldova - 903
Poland - 999
Czech Republic - 155
Croatia, Montenegro - 94
France - 15
UK - 999 (single number for all emergency services)
Spain - 112 (single number)
Georgia - 113
Turkey - 112
Egypt - 123
Thailand - 1554
Israel - 101
USA - 911 (single number for all emergency services)
Japan, South Korea - 119 (easy to remember: 911 is reversed)

Before traveling to a particular country, write down the corresponding number in notebook your phone and add to Favorites. Recall that an ambulance is often called for an urgent reason, when seconds play a role.

And, if you are going to foreign countries, learn at least a few English words - so the probability that you will be understood at the other end increases significantly. You will most likely not have time to go into the phrasebook.

We hope you will never need this material. But if troubles come, it's better to meet them in readiness,

Ask your child and your parents for an ambulance number, chances are that the answer will surprise you unpleasantly. For the right answer, we turned to experts.

Phone call

Here's what he told us Stanislav Manerov, director of the "Space of Safety" company, instructor-methodologist of children's and teenage programs of the School of First Aid:

“All two-digit phones 01, 02, 03 in Moscow were replaced a year ago with three-digit ones: 101, 102, 103. There are about ten more emergency numbers, full list and another important information can be viewed on our website:

The main number for calling emergency services in Russia is 112. From a mobile phone, the number works throughout Russia and in Europe. This number can also be dialed from the city, it is valid in most regions of Russia. Does it work in yours? Before you tell the number to the child, you need to check.

Safety School instructors tell children that it is very easy to remember this phone number: 112 - one mouth, one nose, two eyes.

Calling from the emergency number 112 is possible:
- Without Money on your account,
– with a blocked SIM card,
– if the phone's SIM card is not available.

The child should be told: “If something happened to you, you need to see if there is an adult next to you and ask him for help. If there is no adult, you need to call on the phone, give your name and age and tell about the situation, say that there are no adults around.

And be sure to add that as soon as an adult appears nearby, you must definitely ask him to call back, because most alarm services do not accept children's calls.

Not all services have caller ID, unfortunately, you cannot count on them to call you back.

It is advisable for older people to have a phone with them even in the apartment. The situations may be different. Of course, if a person has a stroke, he will not be able to call an ambulance, so call your loved ones regularly.

It must be remembered that an ambulance is also a reference service, there is a doctor who can recommend something. Although he will not undertake to make a diagnosis over the phone, he can suggest some elementary things. For example, if you feel very unwell and doubt whether to call a doctor from the clinic who will come in a day, call an ambulance, or still call an ambulance, in this case the dispatcher will switch you to a specialist who can competently advise you.

If the operator for some reason does not want to receive a call, ask to switch you to the doctor on duty. The operator must do this. But if suddenly he refused, you need to dial the number again, explain the situation to another operator and ask to connect you with the doctor on duty.

Keep in mind that the ambulance does not write out any documents, it will not give you a certificate or a sick leave. Therefore, calling an ambulance to testify your absence from work is useless for you and harmful for others. Having left on such a call, doctors may not be in time for the one for whom it is really important.

Ambulance - to save lives. You need to remember this and not call it in vain, for example, in order to measure pressure. Everyone seems to know about this, but at each ambulance station there is a list of grandmothers who call the brigade often and for no reason.

- And what if there is no phone at hand, but there is a computer? Can I call an ambulance on Skype?
- Each Skype subscriber entered into a service agreement with the service and ticked the "agree" box. But few people remember that this agreement says that Skype cannot be used to call emergency services.

Exists mobile app"Rescuer" from the Russian Emergencies Ministry, which has an emergency digging. If you press it for 5-10 seconds, the coordinates go to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and they call you back.

What if the person can't speak? Can I call an ambulance by SMS?
I have never heard of this, but it is quite possible that such a service exists. Although, to be honest, I doubt it. The fact is that the ambulance is not obliged to respond to all calls. If firefighters leave on any call, then the ambulance dispatcher assesses how life-threatening the patient's condition is and chooses: who according to their profile, who to send to the clinic, who to the ambulance, which will arrive within a day. In the case of SMS, it is more difficult to weed out a false call.

How to call an ambulance silently?

It's no secret that Skype is used by a huge number of users around the world. This program is convenient and, importantly, allows you to make free video calls to almost any country. However, sometimes there are problems in its work. Let's look at the most common of them, causes and solutions.

If you're having trouble connecting to Skype, it's possible that the reason is the speed of your network connection. First, check if you have internet access. Then check your connection speed. You can do this with special utilities or online services. If the speed is low, the program automatically does not allow you to make a call.

In the case when your problem is related to a specific subscriber, then check if you are authorized by him. It's easy to do - look at the avatar. If instead you see a silhouette with a question mark, then most likely he did not add you to his list of contacts. Also, while making a call, pay attention to the subscriber's network status icon, whether he is online and whether he can make calls. Correct this and try to connect again.

Problems with the microphone

If Skype drops the call, what to do, let's see further. Sometimes the cause may be a malfunction of the microphone. In this case, you can make a call, but as soon as the contact you want to contact picks up the phone, the connection is cut off. If the situation is familiar, then most likely you will need to check the operation of the microphone. To do this, do the following:

Click on Tools.
Go to the Settings section.
Select Sound Settings on the right side of the window.
We look at the upper block Microphone.

First, make sure that the program uses the device you need. Laptops have a built-in microphone by default. If you want to connect another, then select it next to the corresponding inscription. Also pay attention to the green slider showing the volume. Set the selection to the checkbox next to the offer auto tuning devices.

In addition, the problem may lie in the drivers for the microphone. The easiest solution is to uninstall them via the Task Manager or update the drivers first. Next, we restart the computer. We connect the microphone (if it is not built-in), wait until the drivers are reinstalled. This happens automatically. Now we check if the problem is fixed, usually this is enough, and the connection is restored.

Advice. Some complain that "I'm calling on Skype there are no beeps." It is possible that the problem is in the operation of the speakers, which can be checked in the same place as the operation of the microphone.

Problems with the video camera

If there is a problem with the video camera, then the interlocutor will not be able to see you, even if the connection has been made. First, check if the drivers are installed on the device and if there is a conflict. To do this, open the Task Manager and find the camera (it is located on the Imaging Devices tab). There should not be exclamation marks or a red cross next to the name. If they are still there, then the driver will need to be uninstalled and reinstalled.

If you're having trouble making Skype calls, try to figure out what's causing the problem first. It is possible that the connection with another contact occurs due to the fact that he himself does not reject the call. If this situation is excluded, then we are looking for a problem in the operation of audio and video devices that are “responsible” for communication. Sometimes the reason may be wrong settings programs. It is possible that you or the subscriber's settings are set in such a way that audio or video calls are prohibited, which will need to be corrected.