Last year over 92,000 calls to the Iranian emergency services were concerned with child abuse or domestic violence against women.

They accounted for 8 and 7 percent of such calls respectively. Director of the National Health Organisation Valiulah Massoudi-Fard told the ISNA news agency that the next highest categories were calls to reporting a missing person and calling an ambulance for a sick drug addict.

He said the heavy traffic in the larger cities meant that ambulances were unable to reach their destinations as fast as they might. Such vehicles “…are not allowed to speed through the traffic, and no special lanes are allotted to them.” However new regulations authorising such lanes would soon become law, he said.

He added: “In view of the increasing number of violent threats made against staff answering emergency calls, we are training them in the use of special equipment to help them defend themselves, and ensuring that appropriate legal requirements are in place to sanction their use.”

Source: Shahrzadnew