Emergency preparedness: ‘A first aider in every home by 2020’

Red Crescent Society trains first aid officers in colleges, varsities.

The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is training district officers for first aid preparedness in all colleges and universities in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The training is being imparted to newly-recruited ‘first aiders’ from across the country, and was held at the Pakistan Boy Scout Association (PBSA) ground in the capital.

PRCS Secretary General Dr Rizwan Naseer, ICRC Head of Delegation Reto Stocker and PBSA officials attended the certificate distribution ceremony.

Naseer said the vision of the PRCS is to have a first aider in every home. He said that to achieve this mission, the society had recruited first aid officers in all districts to impart training to college and university students. He said a trained first aider in every home could make a big difference in saving lives in emergencies or during disasters in any community.

In line with the vision of its chairman Dr Saeed Elahi, the PRCS says it aims to have 5 million volunteers in Pakistan by 2020. In order to tighten disaster response capacity, PRCS also plans to have an emergency response team in every union council by 2020.

Stocker said the spirit of new officers is worth appreciating, and that the ICRC was pleased to collaborate with the PRCS in alleviating human suffering in Pakistan.

In addition, the society said it shall soon start a school safety programme in all districts of Pakistan, as well as a lost help line to reunite and assist any unidentified accident or emergency victims reporting to any major hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2016.