Kudos for East Cape health call centre

The Eastern Cape health department’s call centre has been hailed as one of SA’s best as it boasts‚ among other things‚ speedy response times to emergency queries.

The centre‚ established in 2004‚ began as a help desk manned by one person and now has about 80 staff.

It is a platform for communities to access medical advice‚ report inefficient public health facilities and give corruption tip-offs.

Call centre head Zandisile Ntlube said the centre was initially in Bhisho but moved to East London due to the high volume of calls.

“We ensure our clients’ problems are resolved and we do follow-ups when we have assisted them,” Ntlube said.

The service is available 24 hours a day and run by trained agents.

HIV/Aids and TB counsellors are on standby to give emergency telephonic advice.

A team of doctors also telephonically helps those without quick access to assistance.

“We run a toll-free line‚ an email call centre and an SMS service which has been integrated with social media platforms,” Ntlube said.

“We are running the call centre on our own.

“Our clients are also happy because we resolve queries up to the last minute.

“We also do a satisfaction index and ask our clients to rate us.

“If a client is not happy‚ we go back to them and make sure we get it right‚” Ntlube said.

He said the department would host a call centre open day on September 17.

In June‚ national health department oral health director Dr Mzimkhulu Mcuba wrote to the Eastern Cape health department‚ commending the call centre on its work and describing it as the most effective in the country.

Mcuba said he was impressed by the short time to answer phones‚ the pleasantness of agents and their thoroughness in dealing with complaints.