THE state government has set up a ‘Penang Covid-19 Call Centre’, which is scheduled to operate on Sept 15.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the initiative was aimed at improving the response time for the monitoring of Covid-19 patients and close contacts.
“The decision to introduce this call centre came after a meeting this morning led by state Environment and Welfare Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh, who is also the state Emergency Response Team chairman.
“This initiative is in addition to the existing three call centres, namely the Covid-19 Assessment Centre or CAC Call Centre, Covid-19 Penang Integrated Control Centre or Penang Covid-19 Unified Command Centre (PUCC) and PgCare Coalition Careline or PgCare Alliance.
“For a start, a total of five lines will be operating at the call centre at 24th floor in Komtar. It will operate from 8am to 5pm daily, including Saturdays and Sundays.
“In fact, the operating hours will be extended to 10pm if the need arises. A special three-digit line number will also be created and subsequently be announced in the future.
“The operation of this call centre will be in four main languages, namely Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin / Hokkien and Tamil. It will be led by a psychological officer from the State Secretary’s office and assisted by a psychological officer from the Social Welfare Department.
“The establishment of the operation centre has obtained a full cooperation from the state Health Department, state Civil Defence Force (APM) and state-level National Security Council (NSC),” he said.
Chow added that state Health Department would provide a list of quarantined patients, while the ‘Covid-19 Call Centre’ would coordinate the needs of those who are positive, undergoing quarantine at home and other related matters.
Earlier, Chow had witnessed two companies – IdealCare Sdn Bhd and Swift Bridge Technologies Sdn Bhd – coming forward to hand over medical equipment to Phee in Komtar today.
As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR), IdealCare contributed RM150,000 worth of medical equipment such as 1,000 medical isolation gowns, 5,000 face shields, 20,000 N95/FFP2 masks and 200,000 three ply surgical face masks.
Swift Bridge Technologies chipped in RM12,000 worth of 500 medical jumpsuits.
Chow thanked both companies for stepping forward to deliver the medical equipment during this challenging period.
“This contribution can assist the frontliners in discharging their duties.
“It can also provide a morale boost for them in the battle against coronavirus.
“I would like to compliment the frontliners for their sacrifices all this while,” he said.
Chow also said Phee, as the chairman of the state Emergency Response Team, would mobilise the effort to improve the healthcare system.
“We hope that everyone can play their respective role to curb the rising cases,” he added.
Also present were state Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng and PgCare Alliance representative Datuk Seri Dr Ooi Eng Hock.
Joining them were IdealCare chief executive Datuk Dr Haminnuddin Abd Hamid, IdealCare business development manager Mazlan Shamsudin and IdealCare business development officer Nurulhusna Zamri.
Representing Swift Bridge Technologies were its managing director SK Chong, financial controller SP Keng and operations manager SL Kwek.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Alissala Thian