180,000 people try to call us in a day - call center volunteer

Kamola Safarova, a volunteer nurse at the UzExpoCenter, explained how the operators work and why it is better for volunteers to help from home.

A special operation to help lonely and low-income citizens began operating at the Uzexpocenter in early April. The 1197 hotline has 32 operators working daily.

"Most of them are medics, as people need information on medicines and counseling. There is a separate line with psychologists. But we are a little bit psychologists ourselves - we have special training. Every day we try to reach up to 180,000 people, but we only manage to take 4,000 calls a day," the volunteer explained.

Every little thing matters, sometimes you can even sing a song: Sevara about her work at the call-centre.

According to her, the processing of applications is in three stages - first we get a message, then they consider it and take a decision, and the last stage is the delivery of cargo.

Medical volunteers urge all volunteers to help remotely, informing citizens about the need for a self-isolation regime.

Listen to a detailed commentary in the radio podcast Sputnik Uzbekistan.