Operator – to Senior Citizen: Your Queue Number 136

Baku / 04.04.20 / Turan: A few days ago, due to the tightening of the quarantine regime, the opportunities for elderly and disabled people to leave the house to purchase medicines, food and other necessary needs were limited. Despite government claims to provide services to people in this category, it is not possible to ensure that everyone has access to these services. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population (MLSPP) reported that from March 24 to April 1, there were 27,486 calls to Contact Center 142, of which 5,278 were related to the provision of social services. However, some citizens who do not have the opportunity to leave their house complain that simply no one answers their calls to the “hot line” of the ministry.

To clarify the severity of the problem on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., a Turan employee called this Contact Center 142. On the other side of the wire, the electronic switch said the following: “Currently, all the operators are busy, we ask you to wait a bit. Your queue number is 136." Thus, for your turn to reach, you have to wait a long time on the phone.

According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the number of people lonely over 65 years of age who are served at home by a social service is about 12 thousand. Home service is provided through the Agency for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (ASOSS), which is part of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The head of the press service of this structure, Shahin Aliyev, told Turan that the number of telephone calls has recently increased significantly.

“The number of communication channels of the Contact Center has increased by more than 4 times. While before there were 64, now another 200 have been added, that is, in total their number has been brought up to 264. The number of operators has also been increased; some employees of the Baku ASOSS No. 1 and No. 2 were involved in this work. Together with them, 100 employees are currently working as Contact Center operators.

The spokesman also added that the Center’s hours of operation have been increased. Earlier, calls were received only until 18:00, now they are received from 9:00 to 00:00; operators answer questions from citizens. Over the past 9 days, the Center has received a total of 35,589 calls. Of these, 34,834 were answered. The record for the number of calls was recorded on April 2. During the day, 4,440 calls were answered,” Shahin Aliyev said.

It should be noted that in order to prevent the spread of the Corona Virus pandemic, the activities of a number of government agencies are limited. The need for their hotline has fallen. For example, Call Center 195, which serves six government agencies, including the State Property Service and the Ministry of Finance, can focus its efforts in the social sphere due to the restriction of the activities of these structures. However, so far this initiative has not occurred to representatives of official structures that apply harsh measures against citizens who do not comply with the quarantine regime.   -08B--