The CRU (Emergency Regulation Center) Samu (Mobile Emergency Service) received 13,800 calls in the state of Santa Catarina in the first half of 2023 classified as false emergencies. Compared to the same period last year, when 9,509 people were registered, the growth was 45%. Joinville, Blumenau and Florianopolis were the cities with the highest number of prank calls.

Prank calls to SAMU SC increased by 45% and Joinville is among the cities with the highest number of false calls – Photo: Arquivo/Bruno Golembiewski/ND

The numbers confirm that call center 192 is still getting prank calls. Hazing may seem like a joke to some, but it can cost a person’s life as well as jeopardize the work of medical regulation technician assistants who answer SAMU calls.

Overloading the telephone line or redirecting an ambulance to a fake emergency call reduces the available resource and delays assistance to those who really need it. To avoid such a situation, the operators of the Emergency Regulation Center are trained and, with experience, they begin to notice the signs of a prank call.

“Medical Regulatory Technician Assistants can detect spurious phone calls and prevent them from reaching the Regulatory Physician’s desk. But there are times when the first filter passes, and the damage is even greater. When a vehicle enters a fake service, we stop providing care to those who really need it,” explains Dionisio Medeiros, Director of Mobile Prehospital Care (APH).

Prank calls to emergency services is a crime under article 266 of the Brazilian Penal Code, and the offender can face a prison sentence of one to six months. In addition, children and teenagers can also be punished. This type of connection is a very serious offense and the perpetrator must be brought before the Children and Youth Court for social and educational measures.