1,300 cadets graduate from Emergency Services Academy

Academy has trained over 20,000 cadets from all over Pakistan so far

LAHORE: The graduation ceremony of approximately 1,300 male and female rescue cadets was held at the Emergency Services Academy on Saturday.

Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Saira Afzal Tarar was the chief guest while the Director General Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer was the host for the ceremony.

Dr Naseer congratulated the cadets on completing their emergency management training. It is this exemplary training which speaks volumes about the performance of the emergency services, he said.

He shared that the Emergency Services Academy has trained over 20,000 cadets from Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Baluchistan and Karachi since its inception. It has become a platform for providing professional training to rescuers from all the provinces. Even South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries can benefit from this training facility, he raved.

Tarar said that rescuers were the sons of our soil, who put their lives in danger in order to save others. She recounted witnessing excellent professionalism exhibited by rescuers when faced with accidents, floods and other disasters.

Earlier in the day, the cadets demonstrated their skills during mock exercises demonstrating a deep well rescue, a water rescue, and firefighting to mention a few.

The graduating cadets have been given specialised medical, rescue, firefighting and height rescue training in the first phase. They were also taught specialised training courses such as Medical First Responder, Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue and Communication and Incident Command System.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2018.