KOLKATA: The number of calls to the state health department’s helpline numbers for Covid-19 has dropped sharply. Even as the third-wave surge has seen a higher number of people being infected than in the second wave, calls for tele-medicine and tele-counselling have gone down significantly. The state health department might now tweak the size of the team for these tele-calling services if the number of calls keeps dipping.
The government had launched the services for tele-medicine consultation, psychological counselling and queries related to Covid-19, including help with hospital admission, around August in 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic. A large number of doctors and counsellors had been deployed for these 24x7 services.
“The three services would receive 9,000 calls per day on an average during the first two waves of the pandemic, the number being higher during the second wave. But now the call count has dropped down to 50% despite the third wave being a bigger surge. That is the reason why we might scale down the manpower and engage them in other services,” said a senior health official.
The telemedicine services were launched from Swasthya Bhavan and SSKM Hospital (IPGMER). At IPGMER, about 30 doctors, including medical officers and specialists pooled in from different medical colleges, are attending to the calls in shifts at present.
“No doubt the number of calls has dropped sharply, but the services will continue as long as we get a directive from Swasthya Bhawan officials to discontinue them,” said an official at IPGMER.
Due to the reduced calls, the health department has also started tracking people in home isolation by contacting them though the call centres from the first week of January. “For now, the services will continue because there are still people calling up the helpline. May be we will reduce the size of the workforce,” said a health department official.
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