Emergencies

In emergency situations, everyone receives treatment. If you do not have a municipality of residence (kotikunta) in Finland or you are not entitled to medical care based on work, for example, medical costs may be collected from you afterwards.

Call the emergency number 112, for example, in the following situations:

• You have been in a car accident or you have witnessed an accident.
• Somebody’s life is in danger.
• You notice that a fire has started.
• You need police assistance quickly.
• You notice that there has been a break-in somewhere.

Please do not call the emergency number for non-urgent matters. Do not call the emergency number in an ordinary case of illness. Also do not call the emergency number if you want to ask the police (poliisi), for example, about matters concerning permits. An unnecessary call may cause the arrival of help at a real emergency to be delayed with fatal consequences. If you misuse the emergency number, it may lead to criminal penalties.

An emergency call is answered by a trained Emergency Response Centre operator. The operator will help you by asking questions and will assess the need for assistance. After that, they will alert the appropriate unit(s). The operator will also give you advice on what to do. They will not put the call through to the police, for example, so the best thing to do is to answer the questions carefully.

When you call the emergency number, you can speak either Finnish or Swedish. You can ask if the operator understands English, but this is not guaranteed. If necessary, the Emergency Response Centre will get help from interpreter services.

The emergency number can be called free of charge from any phone. No area code is needed. If you have a mobile phone subscription that is based abroad you can still call the emergency number without an area code. The emergency number 112 works in all EU countries.

If you have installed the free-of-charge 112 Suomi mobile application on your phone, it might not be necessary to state your location. The Emergency Response Centre operator will see your location automatically when you make the call through the application. You can download the application from the app store of your phone.

When you call the emergency number 112:

• give your name
• describe what has happened
• give the municipality and the address as accurately as possible
• answer the questions asked by the Emergency Response Centre’s operator
• follow the instructions given
• do not hang up until you are told to do so

You can find more information about the emergency number at the Emergency Response Centre (Hätäkeskuslaitos) website.

If you want information from the police about matters concerning permits, vehicle regulations or how the investigation of an old crime is progressing, please contact the police at their own numbers during office hours.

If you suspect that someone has ingested poison, you can ask the Poison Information Centre (Myrkytystietokeskus) for advice. Its telephone service is available 24 hours a day. The phone number is (09) 471 977.