Helpline flooded, health dept to set up 15 more desks

AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAILY CALLS HAS SURGED FROM 700 TO 2,800 IN PAST 3 DAYS

CHANDIGARH: As the health and family welfare department’s helpline ‘104’ got flooded with calls in the wake of the rising number of coronavirus patients in Punjab, the department has decided to set up 15 more desks for the helpline in Amritsar.

At present, the helpline has only four desks in Mohali.

Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) officials monitoring the helpline said the average number of daily calls has surged from 700 to 2,800 in the past three days and the callers now have to wait for five to 10 minutes to get connected with the receiver.

“In view of the increasing load on the helpline in the past couple of days, we have decided to set up 15 desks at Amritsar,” PHSC managing director Manvesh Singh Sidhu said.

Interestingly, several calls received on the helpline — ranging from 100 to 150 on an average — are hoax, the officials said.

In such calls, the callers “just pass time” or seek information related to developmental projects, they added.

“In the beginning, many people used to report us about the lack of cleanliness conditions in their areas, which otherwise is under the ambit of local bodies or panchayats,” an official said.

However, the helpline has proved a boon for the department in tracing non-resident Indians (NRIS) and foreign visitors, who have emerged as major carriers of the virus into India from the other countries.

Punjab health minister Babir Singh Sidhu said the department on Saturday received at least 45 calls in which the callers gave information about the whereabouts of NRIS and foreigners who recently came to India.

“In at least 10 cases in Mohali district only, we have been able to trace the NRIS who were hiding in their homes without informing the health department and had even stopped taking services of their domestic helps. One caller helped us to track an NRI at Rahon in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. With the help of police, he was put under quarantine,” said the minister.