A woman called the capital city’s 115 Emergency Centre at around 3.40am on July 9 in panic after a relative fell unconscious.

She confirmed and reconfirmed her address several times, and was told that an ambulance would arrive at the house in a few minutes.

After more than a few minutes, when she called back to check what was happening, no one picked up the phone. To make sure one particular number was not being responded too, family members called from different phones, but there was still no response. A full 25 minutes later, the patient was rushed to a hospital in another car.

If such irresponsibility was inexcusable, the excuses that the centre came up with were inexplicable.

Doctor Nguyễn Thành, director of Hà Nội’s 115 Emergency Centre, said an emergency team had been sent to give first aid, but they went to the wrong address and returned without finding any patient there.

Curiously, they did not report this “false alarm.”  Why, we might never know. And while how they got the address so badly wrong was not explained, there was an explanation for not picking up the phone – the fact that the centre receives many fake calls.

Since we can’t fake a twist here, dear reader, it’s your call. — VNS