In January alone: ‘Over 2,300 people died in different emergencies’

Rescue 1122 DG orders his staff to ensure uniform standard of service across the province

LAHORE: Punjab Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer has said over 2,300 people lost their lives in different emergencies in January 2017. These include 1,899 in medical emergencies, 288 in road accidents and 21 in building collapses.

He revealed these statistics while presiding over a meeting on Wednesday to review the performance of emergency operations in all 36 districts of Punjab in January. In the meeting held at Rescue 1122 headquarters, Dr Rizwan ordered officers to ensure uniform standards of service and smooth emergency services delivery without discrimination.

Commenting on the data, he said most emergencies occurred between 8am and 8pm.

Therefore, all officers were directed to utilise available resources strategically and manage emergencies in an effective manner.

He directed the provincial monitoring cell to prepare emergency data each month for analysis. Based on the data, a response strategy of Rescue 1122 would be devised in accordance with the best practices of developed countries.

“We have to maintain the standard of emergency services for timely response and ensure the maintenance of vehicles, equipment and the best utilisation of available resources,” he said.

He also reviewed the progress of implementation of patient transfer service in various districts of Punjab so that the best possible services are provided as per orders of Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The emergency data revealed that 57,846 victims were rescued by Rescue 1122 in 59,340 operations across Punjab last month.

The average response time was seven minutes.

The emergency calls to which Rescue 1122 responded to included 18,618 road traffic accidents, 31,397 medical emergencies, 1,018 fire incidents, 1,271 crimes, 30 drowning incidents, 52 building collapses, 17 explosions and 5,443 miscellaneous operations.

According to statistics, the majority of fire incidents occurred in major cities, including 299 in Lahore, 116 in Faisalabad, 95 in Rawalpindi, 66 in Multan, 67 in Gujranwala and 40 in Sialkot. Similarly, 3,682 traffic accidents were reported in Lahore, 1,806 in Faisalabad, 1,027 in Gujranwala, 1,130 in Multan and 633 in Rawalpindi.

Dr Rizwan said developed countries had adopted a preventive approach to protect human lives.

“We need to prioritise the respect for human life to put our country in the list of developed countries through the establishment of safer communities and planned urbanisation,” he added.

He praised the leadership of Shehbaz Sharif, saying multiple departments were working together to ensure that roads are safe and secure to travel on.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2017.