No Answer

Fourteen-year-old Melbourne girl Alisha Hussein should be alive today, but she isn't. She died last October after suffering an asthma attack. At the time, her mother Jasmine desperately tried to get her daughter medical help, but when she phoned 000, instead of the call being answered within the required five seconds, she was left on hold for 15 minutes. Eventually Alisha's family decided they couldn't wait any longer for an ambulance and drove her to hospital themselves. Sadly, she arrived too late. As Nick McKenzie reveals in a joint report by 60 MINUTES, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Alysha Hussein is one of a number of victims of a terrible crisis in Victoria. Its emergency triple-zero service is so stretched that when people call for urgent help at busy times, the phones are not even being answered.

Reporter: Nick McKenzie

Producers: Joel Tozer, Aisha Dow