Ambulance and emergency numbers in India

Ambulance: call 108. Any emergency — police, fire or ambulance: call 112. Both are free from any mobile or landline in India, without a SIM balance.

Updated 2026-10-08

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108, 102 or 112: which one to call

• 108 — an emergency ambulance: a fall, chest pain, breathlessness, a stroke, an accident. Run with the state government and free to the patient in most states.
• 112 — any emergency, anywhere in India. The operator sends police, fire or an ambulance. Use it if 108 does not connect, or if you are not sure which service you need.
• 102 — a patient-transport line in some states, mainly for pregnant women, babies and transfers between hospitals.
• The hospital’s own ambulance — many private hospitals send one if you call their emergency desk. It is paid, and it takes your parent to that hospital. Save the number of the hospital you would choose today.

What to say on the call

1. The full address, with a landmark the driver can find at night (a temple, school, shop or gate number).
2. Your parent’s age and what happened, in a few words: a fall, chest pain, breathlessness, not waking up.
3. Whether they are awake and breathing.
4. A phone number at the house that will stay free, so the crew can call back for directions.
5. Then send someone to the gate or the main road to guide the ambulance in.

Calling from abroad

108 and 112 are short codes that work only from phones in India — dialling them from the USA, the UK or the Gulf reaches your own country’s emergency service, or nothing. If your parent calls you first:

1. Ring a neighbour or relative near your parent and ask them to call 108 and go to the house.
2. Call the full number of the nearest hospital’s emergency desk and ask them to send their ambulance.
3. Send the emergency card — address, medicines, allergies, blood group, doctor — to whoever reaches your parent first.

The 15-minute emergency plan for a parent in India → · If your parent has fallen →

Helplines for older people

• 14567, Elder Line — the national helpline for senior citizens: pensions, legal questions, abuse, loneliness. Not an ambulance.
• 1930 — cyber fraud: call at once if money left an account in a phone or online scam. Protecting parents from phone scams →

Before it happens

• Choose the nearest hospital with a 24-hour emergency department, and a second one. Save both emergency-desk numbers in your parent’s phone and yours.
• Make an emergency card with medicines, allergies, blood group and doctor, and keep a printed copy by the door. Free emergency card maker →
• Agree on two people near your parent who can reach the house within 30 minutes, and leave a spare key with one of them.
• Set up a daily check-in, so that a fall or an illness at home is noticed within hours instead of days.

Emergency guides for 75 cities

Each city guide has the numbers, major hospitals with emergency departments, the nearest airport and the languages spoken.

Questions families ask

Numbers are the national ones published by the Government of India. State services and hospital numbers change — confirm locally. Athnova Care tracks and coordinates care. It does not diagnose, prescribe or replace a doctor. In a medical emergency in India call 112.