VietNamNet Bridge – Operators on the hotline for A/H1N1 flu say they receive up to 300 calls per day and half of them are nothing. They report many humorous and annoying stories.

Nguyen Duc Khoa said that he receives between 100 and 300 calls per day and two-thirds are from men.

One such operator, Nguyen Duc Khoa from the Health Ministry’s Preventive Health Agency told VietNamNet that he receives between 100 and 300 calls per day and two-thirds are from men.

Khoa complained that half of the calls were nothing. Many people have even made calls to check whether the hotline was working. Others ask for information about the flu, asking for advice, reporting suspected cases, offering suggestions to prevent the flu or asking for names of doctors.

“A pig breeder called me to ask why the flu was called swine flu because that name affected his job. Some have asked me why we didn’t take the body temperatures of people from other countries, and why we didn’t stop them from entering Vietnam,” he said.

“But there are many short calls,” Khoa said. “Hello! Is this the hotline of the Health Ministry? Ah, yes… I only ask to know.”

Khoa also receives 20 messages a day and some of them are songs, gifts from senders.

“Perhaps they know that we work very hard so they try to help us reduce stress,” Khoa joked.

He said the line was busier in the days that Vietnam detected many more A/H1N1 flu cases. Callers often ask whether the pandemic has come to Vietnam or how to prevent it.

Anther operator, Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, also from the Preventive Health Agency, said: “I’m a woman so I receive many teasing calls from men. It is very normal for me to hear swearing on the phone.”

Thuy has had to answer many calls in the evening and at night. “Serious people never call during this time, but around 8 am,” Thuy said.

Khoa said sometimes he doesn’t have time to eat because of calls from the hotline. “I have to answer calls 22 hours per day. I’m only free from 2.30 to 5am,” Khoa said.

Once the hotline received a call from a man in Thai Nguyen province, who reported that there was a person in the province who had returned from Mexico. The Preventive Health Agency asked the Thai Nguyen Health Department to check into it but it turned out that the announcement was false. 

Cam Quyen