The government established the EDCD call centre on March 13 last year in coordination with the World Health Organisation to disseminate information about the coronavirus. In the initial days, it was operated from Jawalakhel and the government had outsourced the service. But a month later it was shifted to Teku.
The operators are lab technicians, public health graduates, health assistants, nurses, and those with a background in microbiology. They take details of every caller–name, address and question asked–and feed the information into the computer database. Some common queries and crucial topics collected through the calls are sent to the National Health Education Information Communication Centre under the Health Ministry so that posters and pamphlets and videos can be made for awareness campaigns.
The hotline number 1115 is open from 6 am to 10 pm, and a total of 12 staff run the call centre in two shifts. Data from the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division show the call centre has received 300,000 phone calls so far.
Anup Ojha was a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues, crime, and human interest stories since 2011. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
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