Emergency services agencies told to upgrade services

Emergency services agencies have been urged to give full commitment in improving the quality of emergency response to the public in line with the government's effort to upgrade the services to bring them at par with that of developed countries.

Deputy Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Joseph Salang said in developed countries, a career in emergency services was highly regarded in terms professionalism.

"The career development has been carefully designed so that those who are involved in this field have the opportunity to advance in their profession," he said when opening the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 excellence awards here, Tuesday night.

Hence, Salang said the development of human capital and training courses provided by the government could help enhance the quality of the services and best practices provided to victims in an emergency.

He called on emergency services agencies to promote the use of MERS 999 system to the public in order to avoid prank calls to avoid negative implications, including operating costs to be borne by the government if the prank calls were rampant.