CAIRO: The Egyptian government is creating a unified network to deal with national emergencies.

The system aims to reduce the response time of emergency agencies handling disasters and crises in the country.

Government agencies participating in the network include ambulance services, police, health care, petroleum, electricity, traffic and civil defense. 

The network is one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East and Africa.

One of the engineers in charge of establishing the system told Arab News that the network is based primarily on receiving citizens’ reports on 112, the unified telephone number for emergency services.

The aim is to reduce response times for emergency situations, solving problems as soon as possible and averting disasters.

The engineer, who preferred not to be named, said the system aims to connect the communications networks of each government agency with a secure network that supports secure digital transformation and protects Egyptian state data.

The system provides accurate data and information to decision-makers at all levels, leading to rapid responses.

The network includes a wireless task distributor system, a wireless video conference system, a wireless smart monitoring system, an automated notification system, and an initial evaluation system for patients inside ambulances, a source familiar with the services said.

The source added that the unified national emergency network was implemented in the cities of the Canal, east of Cairo, and Luxor and Aswan in the first phase.

The Egyptian Ministry of Local Development held meetings in other governorates to determine the demand for unified control centers for the network.

Designs have already been handed over to 15 governorates and a timeline set for completion of the construction work for those centers, the source said.