This comes after a 54-year-old man died in Kolombong, Kota Kinabalu yesterday due to a heart attack. Daily Express reported that an ambulance only arrived an hour after the MERS999 call was made.

Warisan vice-president Junz Wong said this issue needed to be rectified as soon as possible as the delay in handling emergency calls only put Sabahans’ lives at stake.

“Why should the line be diverted to (Putrajaya) instead of Sabah’s own call centre? Why can’t such a simple thing be resolved?

“This is ridiculous and unacceptable. How many more lives have to be sacrificed?” he said in a Facebook post today.

In September, there were claims that firefighters lost precious time in responding to a blaze that killed a family of four in Taman Hungab, Penampang, as the distress call had to be routed to Putrajaya first under the system.

This prompted Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor to call for an overhaul of the MERS999 system, as it was centralised in Putrajaya.