From among 600,000 calls made to the social emergency hotline123, regrettably a large number are misdials and calls by pranksters (458,000), said Hossein Asad Beigi, head of the Social Emergency Response Center at the State Welfare Organization. “This is a callous attitude, as it can prevent people who are really in need of help from getting through to the emergency call center,” IRNA quoted him as saying. From among the genuine calls (142,000), 1% was related to suicide cases, 7-8% to child abuse and 7-8%, domestic violence, he said. There are currently 180 social service centers operating across the country and they are accessible via the emergency hotline 123 round the clock.
