LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Need blood for a patient, or help in a hurry, at a government hospital in Punjab? The Punjab Safe Cities Authority has started installing QR emergency buttons in hospitals across the province, including in Lahore, that connect you to help from your own phone.
How it works
Scan the code with your phone and you are connected directly to the authority, the agency says. The hospital’s details appear automatically, you register your contact number, and you can then reach help by calling Emergency Helpline 15, by live chat or by video call.
Finding blood
The most useful part for many families may be the link to the Safe City Virtual Blood Bank. After a request, the Safe City team helps connect patients with available donors of the blood group they need, which the authority says makes finding a donor easier and faster.
You do not need to be near a code for that. Calling Helpline 15 and pressing option 4 gets guidance on blood requirements and basic first aid, the authority says.
When it reaches your hospital
The buttons are being installed in phases. They can also be used for emergencies other than blood.
Punjab has already used similar QR panic buttons on public transport, for foreign nationals and at Muharram gatherings. The move comes in the same week that doctors shut outpatient departments across Pakistan in a strike partly over violence and police cases against medical staff, though the authority presents the buttons as a service for patients and their families.
