Bhubaneswar: After combating Covid-19 for months, the number of calls made to the 104 Helpline in the state by anxious people and patients as well as their caregivers also declined steadily.
Officials entrusted with the task of managing the calls to the Covid Helpline and tracking them claimed that the frequency of calls has come down to almost one-third of what it used to receive at the beginning of the pandemic (during March and April this year).
“When Covid-19 had just started spreading in Odisha, we received up to 16,000 calls to 104 Helpline. Eight months down the line, the numbers have dipped and now we are seeing around 6,000 calls per day,” said Sabyasachi Biswal, state head of Ziqitza Healthcare Pvt Ltd, which manages the call centre for the 104 Helpline, told Orissa POST.
He said that the before the onset of Covid pandemic in the state, the 104 Helpline had 40 employees, which was increased to 150 by the state government when the number of queries increased and the number of cases spiralled in the state.
Helpline executives, who have handled the phone calls during the last eight months, claimed that the types of queries have also changed with time. “In the beginning, people were anxious to know about Covid-19 symptoms and what they should do if they came in contact with a positive person. Now, the calls are mostly about home isolation, medical advice and test reports, besides registering their grievances on Covid treatment,” said Debi Prasad, a call centre executive from 104 Helpline.
The service provider told this reporter that the team has well-trained staff to answer the queries of the callers. The helpline works around the clock and also comprises 22 doctors and counsellors to answer the queries and also pacify panicked patients and their relatives.
“We have counsellors who brief the patients and their caregivers about the line of treatment for people who test positive to the virus. The counsellors also try to pacify their anxiety and boost their confidence to fight the disease,” Kavita Dhal, team leader of the call centre said.
The administration of the 104 Helpline said that many people call the helpline requesting vehicles to transport Covid patients to either Covid hospitals or Covid Care Centres. “Unfortunately, we do not provide patients with transport facilities.”
Interestingly, most of the staffers who take the calls in the helpline had been working from home for many months to avoid being infected by the virus. The state government has allowed this and aided them by providing smartphones, laptops, dongles and cloud technology to keep them connected.
Manish Kumar, OP