On December 2, within the framework of cooperation of the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Government of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a solemn ceremony of signing a new concept of the hotline 118 was held. The signing took place within the framework of the project "Support to COVID-19 Response Through Data-Driven Hotline-118”. The ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Bekturganov, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic Urmat Shamyrkanov, UNDP Resident Representative in the Kyrgyz Republic Louise Chamberlain, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Kyrgyz Republic Lee won-Jae, Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency KOICA Yi Jong-Su.

The Project intends to re-design and integrate an effective COVID-19 emergency response hotline-118 service with the existing infrastructure of public emergency hotline-112. Under this new architecture, aligned with the Ministry of Healthcare’s broader public hotline vision, this tool is an integral part of the public health service package provided to the general public to ensure the protection of lives in the emergency phase.

During the ceremony, Mr. Lee Won-Jae, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Kyrgyz Republic, noted that since the beginning of the pandemic, the Korean Government has been increasing Official Development Assistance to provide humanitarian assistance to partner countries in the Central Asia: “While meaningful progress has been made for the last two years of the pandemic, a new variant of the coronavirus "Omicron" is raising concerns around the world, alarming that the Government should stand ready to take aggressive actions to minimize the negative socio-economic impacts and to support those who are suffering the most.”

“We must continue to work closely together for an effective response. I would like to reaffirm UNDP’s commitment to supporting the Kyrgyz Republic in responding to the pandemic in every aspect to build back better. I sincerely hope that sustaining, expanding, and enhancing the functionality of the 118 Hotline is one of many more successful joint efforts to come toward public health and digitalization,” said Ms. Louise Chamberlain, UNDP Resident Representative.

The intervention has been conceptualized around achieving the:

1. Provide high-quality information to the general public on Covid-19-related issues,

2. Support national partners with data collection and analysis for better foresight of public health measures,

3. Improve access to COVID19 Vaccination related information to the public.

At the the ceremony Mr. Ulukbek Bekturganov, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic, emphasized: “We need to integrate hotlines into one to combat the COVID-19 crisis. In this line, The Ministry will undertake all efforts to make the hotline accessible for the public and combat misinformation.”

In turn, Urmat Shamyrkanov, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic, said: "The creation of this system is one of the important directions of ensuring a comprehensive response to emergency situations in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and the integration of the Services 112 and 118, I am sure, will give effective results.”