The Health Information Helpline service “104” which began on March 3 needs Information, Education and Communication (IEC)strategies for creating awareness among the residents of Jharkhand. In the present scenario, the service centre is receiving as many as 200 to 300 calls per day, claim officials.
“In the first day we received about 1,000 calls from the denizens out of curiosity. They wanted to know the importance of this number. We suggested the State Government to connect this to centre with IEC so that more number of people including urban and rural ones can call us round the clock,” said Dr Balaji Utla, Head of Piramal Swasthya, the company managing this centre.
Utla added, “Noticing the Model Code of Conduct, our suggestion could not
be worked out. Hopefully,
the State Government would think of its implementation after this code of conduct so that public gets aware about the services of this helpline number.” According to a counselor of this centre established at Doranda, the helpline solves queries on common health
ailments and Government health schemes.
Also, psychological counseling is done for patients dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, suicidal tendencies and stigmatiSed diseases.
“We initially register the name of the caller and then prescribe him or her according to the required need so that the time taken for basic details is avoided from the next call made by this particular person,” a male counselor said.
Apart from counseling, the helpline service supports patients with information related to public health service providers, institutions,diagnostic services and hospitals in Jharkhand.
The helpline serviceis said to be a robust real-time mechanism which ensures that people get basic information on their health conditions and the available medical facilities at the right time.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren along with the State Health Minister Rajendra Singh Prasad had inaugurated it.
“The call centre can handle a call volume of 2500 calls a day. Citizens of Jharkhand can dial the number 104 from any of the 24 districts from their mobile or landline,” Utla mentioned.
Piramal Swasthya is
active through their 104 helpline in Assam, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh in partnership with the respective state governments and has served over 68 million callers till date.