From today, the Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) emergency hotline number 995 will be displayed on local phones' caller ID.

This is an enhancement to the call taking feature of the SCDF's Operations Centre, it said yesterday .

Previously, mobile phones and landlines with caller ID would only display "unknown number", "private number" or "no called ID" when the Operations Centre attempted to contact the callers.

The SCDF said: "Some callers may not respond to telephone calls when there is no recognisable number. As the number 995 is distinct to the SCDF, callers would more likely respond to such calls."

Specialists from the Operations Centre, upon dispatching SCDF resources to an emergency, may sometimes contact a caller to get more information on the latest developments to the emergency.

They may also provide callers with medical advice for patients.

The SCDF said users of all three major telcos - Singtel, M1 and StarHub - will have the 995 number displayed on their phones' caller ID.

It urged members of the public to immediately answer the call or return the call as soon as possible if they have missed it.

International numbers used here will not receive the 995 caller ID.

Numbers beginning with the prefix +995 and followed by other numbers are not from the Operations Centre, the SCDF noted.

Lee Min Kok