Tribute to an unsung public service

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It can be safely argued that the only public sector department functioning without any corruption or nepotism or sifarish is the Punjab Emergency Service, popularly known as Rescue 1122 in Punjab. It's a bitter reality that before going to any public department we first look for some acquaintance or reference to seek accomplishment or redressal of our tasks and complaints but Rescue 1122 responds to all and sundry at the average access time of seven minutes in all districts and tehsils of Punjab.

The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) launched in 2004 from Lahore as a pilot project with 200 Rescuers, 6 Rescue Stations and 14 Ambulances has now become the largest emergency humanitarian service of Pakistan with infrastructure in all districts of Punjab.

Punjab Emergency Service Department is providing people with Ambulance Service, Rescue Service, Fire Service, Water Rescue, Animal Rescue, Community Safety, Building Safety, and Motorbike Rescue Service. All these services have given a sense of safety and identity to the have-nots of our society. Having no conveyance of their own, the poor people, before the launch of 1122 service, had to suffer a major loss of property or life.

The data provided by the Ambulance Service shows the medical emergencies per day stand at the top of the list of emergencies, including heart attacks and birth delivery cases, and mostly the patients belong to low income class. Over 97% emergency calls are related to Emergency Ambulance Service.

In case of heavy rains, when urban flooding puts urban life to a halt, it is the Rescue 1122 that provides relief to people. Its boat service saves students particularly girls from missing their exams and helps examiners reach their exam centres in time. Not only humans, it also rescues animals that cannot give SOS calls as humans do.

Motorbike Rescue Service has extended the outreach of rescue services to congested and impassable areas. As the deserving people live in ghettos or slums, it becomes difficult for the ambulance service to provide first aid to the patient or fetch him or her to the hospital. Victims of fatal road accidents are now approached in no time through Motorbike Rescue Service.

Rescue 1122 not only provides emergency care but also believes in saving lives and changing minds. Its service Community Safety aims at the development of safer communities through the establishment of an effective system for emergency preparedness, response and prevention. It imparts training to local communities, students and labourers about how to cope on their own with emergency situations like burning gas cylinders.

The behaviour of the Rescue 1122 staff with victims and people is praiseworthy. They sound cooperative and humanitarian to people in distress. They never demand or wish for any personal gains – a practice every public department in Pakistan is rife with. However, the staff complain of hoax calls that cause loss of time, opportunities and resources for the genuine victims. The hoaxers must fear the day their distress calls be deemed as crying wolf.

The ambulance drivers also rue the public apathy shown to their ambulances on roads. Despite continuous warning sirens, hooters and requests through megaphones to give way to the ambulances carrying patients in critical conditions, the motorists don't bother to heed these calls. Parents, teachers and the pulpit must sensitise people against this disregard to help.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has notified the Punjab Emergency Service as a Disaster Response Force, after witnessing excellent performance and commitment of the Service during catastrophic floods in 2010 in Punjab. Subsequently, the Home Department assigned flood relief function to Rescue 1122 and empowered the Service with more resources. This public service has no doubt set a precedent to be replicated in other provinces; it must not be despised under provincialism.

We must realise that this Service is a manna in the wilderness for us when the performance of government-run departments is awfully disappointing. Almost all of us must have experienced the ordeal for the routine tasks at NADRA or LESCO offices.