Chief Minister Usman Buzdar cuts a cake on the 15th anniversary of Rescue 1122. PHOTO NNI
LAHORE: Punjab government will provide all support to strengthen the Punjab Emergency Service (PES) and facilitate United Nations (UN) certification process, said Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar.
He stated this while addressing a function organised by the Emergency Services Academy, Lahore to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Rescue 1122. UN International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) Expert Sebastien Neuhaus, senior government officers, rescue officers from headquarters and academy, district emergency officers, pioneers and a large number of rescuers participated in the event.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM congratulated PES on the successful completion of 15 years of emergency services and becoming the leading emergency service among SAARC countries. He also appreciated the efforts regarding registration of First Search and Rescue Team with the UN in SAARC countries.
On the occasion, rescuers were promised about their regularisation and implementation of service structure on PES’s anniversary. The announcement was made by the CM, in his capacity as the chief guest on the occasion. The announcement of the resumption of the emergency allowance was also made by him.
The CM said that service regulations would soon be approved so that periodic promotion of dedicated rescuers can take place and all issues of Rescue 1122 would be resolved soon.
Moreover, contract employees would be regularized, he added. “New fleet of ambulances would be provided and Rescue service will be expanded to 70 more tehsils of Punjab.”
He also congratulated the Rescue DG Dr Rizwan Naseer and his entire pioneer teams who accepted this challenge and turned a dream into reality.
The DG also congratulated all rescuers especially the pioneers upon completion of 15 years of the service with dedication and providing the right to timely emergency care, without discrimination, to 7.5 million helpless victims of emergencies and disasters.
He appreciated rescuers for maintaining the standards of this emergency service and gain prayers of the community members with hard work; commitment and dedication. “I congratulate all staff for becoming the leading emergency service among SAARC Countries and the first team to be registered with the UN INSARAG.”
The DG requested the CM to regularise the rescue staff, approve service structure and restore emergency allowance as per 2017 basic pay.
A brief history of PES
Recalling past memories, the DG said that the PES was started as an emergency ambulance service, which was a pilot project in the provincial capital in 2004. “Keeping in view the failure of repeated attempts to revitalise and modernise existing emergency services, everyone was very skeptical about the project’s success.”
Therefore, the establishment of this service was a great challenge, especially when there were no trained emergency personnel or emergency training institutes available in Pakistan and even the emergency departments of the teaching hospitals did not have trained emergency paramedics, the DG added. “Against all odds, the service was established after successfully completing all the challenges which included recruitment of the right staff, training on modern lines, acquisition of appropriate land for and construction of Rescue stations.”
Other challenges included the development of international standards ambulances, rescue, and fire vehicles in Pakistan, acquisition of toll-free emergency number 1122 and wireless frequencies; development and establishment of vehicles tracking and call monitoring systems for control room for effective monitoring, the DG further said.
He highlighted that after third-party evaluation, which revealed this service to be exemplary in terms of training; quality care, response and professionalism, the service has been established in all 36 districts of Punjab and expansion to the tehsil level would be completed by next year.
The DG concluded that Rescue 1122, which was just an idea 15 years ago has now turned into a reality of an effective system of emergency preparedness; response and prevention. “Although, an international standard emergency service is available for rescue of emergency victims; the alarming increase in the number of avoidable road traffic accidents and fire incidents necessitated the need to work together for prevention of such emergencies.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2019.
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