I refer to the letter Government departments: Deal with the '10 percent' by Stanley. I believe the problem is much bigger than the 10 percent as the writer stated. I will share with you a few incidents with sworn statements.

My office happens to be nearby a private ambulance service provider. They are on a 24-hour standby and will respond to any emergency. I had a chance one day to share some thoughts with one of the ambulance staff on duty. The information which I gathered from him shocked me completely.

Apparently, they will usually receive calls from government hospitals on emergency cases like accidents and home calls. The hospitals will usually say that all their ambulances are out but they will then refer the caller to a private ambulance service provider. Upon arriving at the scene and depending on the situation, a sum would have to be agreed upon before the ferrying of the patient to the hospital.

This then would answer my question as to why when we call a government hospital, their ambulances never seem to arrive. It seems that there is a 'private arrangement' between government ambulance drivers and the private one in order to earn some 'pocket money' at the expense of the patient. Whatever that is collected for the trip will be split with the 'informer'.

I know how's it feels when Zara Davies had a hard time getting the Klang Hospital to send an ambulance. The questions they ask is to determine whether it is viable for them to make the trip or get nothing out of it. What happens when the private ambulance arrives at the hospital and there is a row of hospital ambulances parked there? The hospital staff have no choice but to concoct a story that their ambulance 'just came back'.

The second incident involves the police department. One night, I was working late on the ground floor of my office building. Suddenly there was shouting and screaming, and it seemed that a fight had broken out. I made a call to the police station which was only two minutes away. A friendly voice answered the call and I informed him of the situation. His reply shocked me: 'Have they stopped fighting?' If they hadn't, then I was to please call him back or he would call back in 10 minutes!

True to his word, he did call back but I was so annoyed that I told him not to come. Imagine if the fight had caused severe injuries or even death. Imagine an innocent bystander getting caught in it ...

The solution to all these problems is to install a voice recording facility with a time and date stamp for all emergency calls (those who have watch the 911 TV show will understand). This will ensure that all calls are taken seriously and acted upon accordingly. Of course, we can't stop prank calls but I'm sure with the latest technology we can have a 'caller ID' facility to minimise this.

I'm very sure that most of us somehow or other have had a bad encounter with either the police, hospitals or fire services department. Life is definitely precious and I'm sure we will not let a person die before our eyes before trying out best to save him or her.