The 1668 hotline for COVID-19 patients seeking hospital beds has been overwhelmed with more callers than it can handle. The Department of Medical Services has increased the number of available operators, while urging patients to use an official chat account on the LINE messaging application as an alternative contact channel.
The Department of Medical Services (DMS) has seen more than 200 calls each day to its 1668 call center for COVID-19 hospitalization, overwhelming the limited number of operators available at any given time, and resulting in callers being put on hold for long periods.
The DMS Director General Dr. Somsak Akksilp said the call center is now rerouting some callers to available mobile phone numbers of volunteers, effectively adding 10 more operators in each shift to answer the high volume of calls.
He has encouraged patients to send a message to the @sabaideebot…
