After lull, Covid helplines caught off-guard

New Delhi: As the fourth wave of the pandemic here rages on with unprecedented speed after a couple of months of low infections, the Delhi government's helpline numbers to track and monitor Covid-19 patients have become overwhelmed with desperate calls, leading many officials to admit they were caught off-guard and were unprepared for this. For instance, the monitoring and helpline teams in five of the 11 districts were set up on Saturday while others came into effect from Sunday, one senior official of the Delhi government said. In the North-west district which is headed by DM Cheshta Yadav, a Covid Command team was set up with three junior staff and two senior staff who were headed by the SDM and the DM. The six-member command team was further escalated to eight members on Monday.

While the official hours are from 8 am till 8 pm in two shifts, calls are answered as late as 2 am as well in which case senior district officials themselves intervene.

"Most callers from the Capital ask for ICU beds along with a ventilator with over 60 per cent of calls having this complaint. The second-highest demand has been for Remdesvir," the official said.

After the last peak, when very few daily cases were coming, the junior staff was relieved from helpline duty with one or two still running. And even after the setting up quickly, the efficiency is still lacking due to technical errors.

Out of the 10 Covid helpline numbers listed on the government's website, Millennium Post received a response from only one. Five went unanswered while four were busy but there was no call back from any of them.

In some districts, the Covid helpline is overburdened as they are catering to all types of requirements, from beds to ambulances to cremation vans and plasma donation. "We did not rope in the intensity of the wave and we were certainly not prepared but we are back on track," one district official said.

During the first peak several districts had also developed their own apps and software to systematically guide callers who were given various types of assistances — psychological help, yoga classes, sanitisation along with the basic need of beds, medication and doctor's assistance — but this time the officials are struggling to provide adequate ventilators and Remdesvir.

Further, the calls are manually handed and there is no system in which the data is being analysed. The need of the hour is to provide medical assistance first, another government official said. "Several callers were left disappointed as even we did not know how to get them Remdesvir," he added.

Largely, the Information Hub monitors the home isolation in each district however, the helplines are also providing medical assistance to patients under home isolation given the chaotic situation. Interestingly, the callers are not only from the Capital but even from states such as UP, Haryana and West Bengal.