Of the over 4,700 calls the district-level unified commanding centre (UCC), which serves as COVID-19 war room, received in the last three weeks, most of the queries were related to availability of oxygen-supported beds and vaccine.
The UCC was started at the Corporation office on May 17 to provide information on availability of beds, triaging COVID-19 positive patients and solving queries related to home isolation.
Equipped with 24 staff from the Atachayam Trust round the clock and monitored by officials from revenue and health department, a total of 4,798 calls were received from May 17 to June 8, of which action was taken on 4,581 calls.
When the district saw a spike in everyday cases in the third and fourth week of May, the war room received an average of 400 to 550 calls, which significantly reduced to 71 calls on Tuesday. Of the total calls, 1,384 callers sought availability of oxygen-beds, 826 calls were related to bed availability and home quarantine, while 785 callers sought details on availability of vaccine and vaccination centres in their area. Other calls received were, 473 calls related to COVID-19 Care Centres, 415 calls for medication, 417 calls for screening, 116 calls for insurance, 88 calls were for seeking details on ICU availability. “Action was taken on 95% of the calls,” said trust founder P. Naveen Kumar, who added that staff faced difficulty in managing callers seeking oxygen-bed availability from May 17 to 20. Maximum number of calls received on a day was on May 18 with 556 calls followed by 545 calls on May 19 which dropped to 71 calls on June 8, he added.
The public can contact 80569-31110, 82206-71110, 82207-91110, 87542-31110, 87543-81110, 87547-31110, 88703-61110, 88705-41110, 88705-81110 and 88706-91110 to reach the UCC.