The government is working towards the creation of a Civil Protection ministry, as the Civil Defence, the Fire and Ambulance Service and the Forestry Department will be coming under one roof following a reform of all crisis forces.
Georgios Boustras, a Presidential advisor on civil protection issues, told Philenews that the creation of such a force is imperative, whatever it might be officially called, based on the results of a study by an organisation providing technical assistance to the Republic.
‘We could call it the General Directorate or the Ministry of Civil Protection’, Boustras said, noting that this reform will forge a central crisis and disaster management system, helping to further develop the civil protection sector in Cyprus.
‘It’s a process that’s been on-going for four months’, Boustras stressed.
The first pillar is the evolution of the “112” crisis citizen call centre system.
The helpline will now be next-generation, called “112 new generation” across Europe, and through this, the movements of all relevant services will be coordinated.
‘With the new 112, the centre will know where ambulances and patrol cars are located, which fire trucks are available and eventually or services will acquire their own centre’ Boustras said.
Following the unifying of the services, the system will also know where there are available beds, in which hospitals and how many doctors are on duty in which specialties, so that patient transfer happens where it should.
According to the planning, there will be central coordination of all services through a common platform and this will be of vital importance during a crisis.
