Responding to medical emergencies: Sindh to get Rescue 1122 emergency service soon

Service to be launched within a few weeks in 10 districts in first phase.

KARACHI:

Sindh will soon have a Rescue 1122 service and will be able to deal with medical emergencies professionally, the government promised on Wednesday.

According to the Sindh secretary for relief and rehabilitation, Roshan Shaikh, all the staff in this new rescue service will be well-trained and well-equipped to deal with medical emergencies. “The service will be launched in 10 districts in the first phase, most likely in the next few weeks,” he said. “The rest of the districts will be covered in the second phase.”

Shaikh was speaking at a seminar, titled ‘Management of Medical Emergencies in Karachi — An Expert Opinion’, organised by HANDS Pakistan and HANDS International at the Movenpick Hotel. The event was attended by representatives of the Aman Foundation, Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust, Al-Khidmat Welfare Society, Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation and Indus Hospital.

Sharing the Sindh government’s efforts towards emergency response services and disaster management, Shaikh said that the Sindh Emergency Service Act is being prepared. The bill will be tabled in the Sindh Assembly soon, he added.

“We are initiating public-private partnership,” Shaikh told the participants. “The legislation is being made and all non-government organisations will have to keep a contact with us so we can generate a database. You’ll monitor us and we’ll monitor you.”

The provincial government has decided that the education system in Sindh will not be disturbed in case of any disaster in the future, he elaborated. He was referring to how the government school buildings were used to settle flood survivors in the past. Shaikh accepted that the government had failed to coordinate with different organisations working with emergency services. The reason behind this lack of coordination was the trust deficit between the two, he added.

“I have seen rescue service providers fighting with each other during emergencies,” he pointed out. “They don’t treat the patients properly. These organisations are just transporting agencies.”

To revamp the rescue services in Sindh, the government will spend Rs3.12 billion, he added.

“I have been trying for the last two years to bridge the gap between the organisations and the government but all in vain,” said Dr Abdul Samad Billoo, the emergency planning consultant. “The most important role, at the end of the day, is that of the government.” However, he criticised both the government and the private rescue organisations for the way they work during emergencies.

“We lack planning and coordination,” said Dr Samad. Karachi has no equipment to deal with any emergency, he added. “We cannot move forward without equipment. The staff cannot be trained without equipment.”

Without a proper system, an emergency situation cannot be dealt with, he said and pointed out that Karachi is always in a state of chaos whenever a major incident takes place. “Dozens of ambulances reach the crime scene without any coordination,” he said. “There is no value of a human being in my country.”

Sharing statistics, Aman Foundation’s Dr Shahid Raza said that 40 per cent of the deaths across the world are preventable if treated at an early stage. His organisation’s main focus is on life-threatening cases, he added. “There are 4,000 emergencies in Karachi every day,” he said. “Though Karachi is the economic hub of the country, child mortality rates are still very high here.”

Meanwhile, HANDS CEO Dr Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed highlighted the importance of medical emergency services in Sindh, particularly in Karachi. HANDS is providing ambulance services in nine districts of Sindh, including Karachi, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2014.