Bulgaria's Emergency Hotline 112 to Offer SMS Service

The emergency hotline 112 number will be reachable by SMS, starting 2014, voted the Bulgarian Parliament.

The amendment in the National Emergency Call System Act, proposed by Socialist MPs Zahari Georgiev and Hristo Monov, received broad support in the National Assembly. 136 MPs voted for, while 20 abstained, reports Standartnews.

Starting January 2014, the hotline will respond to text messages. The new mechanism is targeted at helping the hearing impaired, who may not be able to receive the help they need over a telephone call.

According to Stoyan Gramatikov, Director of the 112 hotline, other alternative mechanisms for reaching the line should be made available for people with disabilities, since text messages are often not the most reliable form of communication.

Opposition centre-right GERB party MP, Veselin Vuchkov, thinks the 112 hotline is not technically ready for such a change, and proposed that the amendment be delayed by 1 year.

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