In an effort to de-congest the call center phone lines, fight fake news and also empower the citizens, the government of Uganda has launched a new USSD helpline. By dialing *260# you will be able to access this help line.
Powered by the National SMS & USSD gateway, the COVID 19 SMS and USSD alerts system allows Ugandans to subscribe to alerts that are both national and district specific sent by Ministry of Health. In the same front, all our desktop users who read techjaja can also view a quick summary of COVID-19 confirmed cases in every article both locally and internationally. We shall soon extend this to mobile.
The government partnered with a local ICT company; Veritas Interactive Limited, when one dials *260#, one will be able to:
- Request for a Covid19 test
- Report a Covid19 case
- District Covid19 District personnel info
- List of Covid19 Sample collection centres
- Request for RDC Contacts
- Get SMS alerts
Commenting after the launch of this service, The Minister of State, ICT & National Guidance, Hon Peter Ogwang said,
‘I applaud NITA-U for partnering with a local ICT company to bring this service to citizens. It is testimony of Government of Uganda’s commitment to working with local innovators in finding home grown solutions. The Ministry of ICT & National Guidance will continue working with local innovators to find solutions that aid the nation-wide fight against Covid19’
NITA-U’s Executive Director, James Saaka, added, ‘We are happy that an additional citizen helpline has been created. We have heard the complaints from citizens about waiting for long after calling the toll-free helpline before getting an advisor to speak to. With the USSD helpline, citizens have the power of information in their hands.’
Being USSD in nature, the service can be used by a mobile phone user, regardless of the whether they have a smart phone or a feature phone. The service is ONLY free of charge on MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda.
