HCMC: Administrative procedures improved to enforce social distancing

Governmental agencies in HCMC are deploying multiple methods to receive citizens’ profile verification requests, as well as collect and return the documents while being restrained by social distancing policies.
A civil servant delivering civilian’s document in Thu Duc District (Photo: SGGP)
A civil servant delivering civilian’s document in Thu Duc District (Photo: SGGP)

The People’s Committee at Linh Trung Ward in Thu Duc District has made use of the social platform Zalo to receive their messaged requests rather than having people line up at the office.

For each request made, on-duty staff would send a responding text and subsequently make phone calls to help requesters prepare the documents. After all data have been confirmed, civil servants would come to the requesters’ residence to collect the paperworks for verification.

The whole administrative procedure takes about 15 minutes, and people usually receive their paperwork and settle handling fees within 60 minutes, said Chairman of Linh Trung People’s Committee Tran Quoc Hung.

Besides receiving requests online, administrative agencies also have quick response teams consisting of community watchmen to collect and return documents, or send them via post. A few steps of the procedure require citizens to sign their name in the presence of a civil servant, so not all documents can be handled entirely by post office staff.

On that matter, HCMC Post Office has also been aiding governmental agencies with other proceedings like delivering pensions and merit bonuses to 210,000 citizens, completely free of charge.

Additionally, people and businesses who require postal services during this pandemic get a 20 percent discount on relevant fees.

Governmental officials have been keeping straight deadlines while rotating shifts at offices and holding more online meetings than ever.

There have only been fewer than 15 staff members at the office of the People’s Committee of Nhon Duc Commune in Nha Be District on any given day, instead of the usual 40. To ensure schedules are met, each department has a social media group to ensure prompt communication, said Vice Chairwoman of the Committee Mai Huynh Thuy Trang.

As for HCMC’s social insurance workers, 80 percent of the whole workforce (1,300 people in total) must work from home to enforce social distancing while dealing with 24,000 profiles daily.

“Almost all procedures can be handled online nowadays, so home-bound civil servants can still complete their tasks without any difficulty,” said Director of HCMC Social Insurance Phan Van Men.

Confidentiality is also held in high regards. Civil servants and office workers must use business emails or the city’s online communication channel, but not for contents relating to state secrets.

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