Rescue 1122: Emergency service needs Rs396m rescue package
Entire ambulance fleet for Lahore is past reliable operational life.
LAHORE:
The Rescue 1122 Emergency Services needs Rs396 million to buy new ambulances, including 24 for Lahore to replace its entire fleet of vehicles that have passed their reliable operational life.
Six ambulances have been brought in from other districts in the Punjab to manage the cases in Lahore, affecting the coverage of emergency services in those districts, said Emergency Services Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer.
According to the standard operating procedures for the Emergency Services of Punjab, ambulances must be replaced after three years or 100,000 kilometres, whichever comes first.
The Rescue 1122 service began in Lahore on October 14, 2004, with a crew of 14 ambulances. The entire fleet was replaced with new ambulances in 2007. These vehicles are still in use five years later. One of them has travelled over 280,000 km, two have travelled over 230,000 km and 15 have crossed 150,000 km, said sources in the Rescue 1122 repair and maintenance department. They said that four or five ambulances broke down every day while responding to emergency calls.
“Due to the poor shape they are in we need more money every year to repair the ambulances,” said the sources. Last year, the department spent Rs12 million repairing ambulances.
Meanwhile, the number of emergency calls has risen from about 90 a day on average in 2007 to 230 a day. Rescue 1122 has only five lines to listen to thousands of calls from the city daily. Some emergency calls have to be declined because of the non-availability of ambulances, said the sources.
They said many of the ambulances were also short on medicine and equipment including pyodine, bandages, IV lines, IV solution and cannulas.
The department is also having trouble on keeping its employees happy, with more than 240 rescuers leaving, mostly because they wanted better pay and promotion prospects, said the sources.
Rescue 1122 has received two new ambulances recently as donations from Turkish company Tika and New Age Cables.
Dr Naseer said that the department had first made a request to the government to replace the ambulances in 2010, and had repeated the request several times since then.
“The government agreed but the funds have not been released. As a result, the requirements for the rehabilitation of the service are increasing. The first time we sent the request, we needed less than Rs100 million. Now we need Rs396 million,” he said.
The director general said that the service needed 66 new ambulances for all of the Punjab, including 24 for Lahore.
He said that the shortage of medicines and equipment was being resolved, as the department had worked out a way to procure what it needs alongside the bulk purchase deals for medicines made by the Health Department for public hospitals.
Asked why so many employees were leaving the department, he said that when it had opened, the emergency services had hired a lot of young people. He said a lot of people felt they would have better opportunities elsewhere, so they had moved on.
He said during Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to the Rescue 1122 training centre three months ago, he had asked him to raise the salaries of rescuers. The chief minister had announced that the rescuers’ salaries would be raised to the level of the police, but this had not happened yet.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2012.
The Rescue 1122 Emergency Services needs Rs396 million to buy new ambulances, including 24 for Lahore to replace its entire fleet of vehicles that have passed their reliable operational life.
Six ambulances have been brought in from other districts in the Punjab to manage the cases in Lahore, affecting the coverage of emergency services in those districts, said Emergency Services Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer.
According to the standard operating procedures for the Emergency Services of Punjab, ambulances must be replaced after three years or 100,000 kilometres, whichever comes first.
The Rescue 1122 service began in Lahore on October 14, 2004, with a crew of 14 ambulances. The entire fleet was replaced with new ambulances in 2007. These vehicles are still in use five years later. One of them has travelled over 280,000 km, two have travelled over 230,000 km and 15 have crossed 150,000 km, said sources in the Rescue 1122 repair and maintenance department. They said that four or five ambulances broke down every day while responding to emergency calls.
“Due to the poor shape they are in we need more money every year to repair the ambulances,” said the sources. Last year, the department spent Rs12 million repairing ambulances.
Meanwhile, the number of emergency calls has risen from about 90 a day on average in 2007 to 230 a day. Rescue 1122 has only five lines to listen to thousands of calls from the city daily. Some emergency calls have to be declined because of the non-availability of ambulances, said the sources.
They said many of the ambulances were also short on medicine and equipment including pyodine, bandages, IV lines, IV solution and cannulas.
The department is also having trouble on keeping its employees happy, with more than 240 rescuers leaving, mostly because they wanted better pay and promotion prospects, said the sources.
Rescue 1122 has received two new ambulances recently as donations from Turkish company Tika and New Age Cables.
Dr Naseer said that the department had first made a request to the government to replace the ambulances in 2010, and had repeated the request several times since then.
“The government agreed but the funds have not been released. As a result, the requirements for the rehabilitation of the service are increasing. The first time we sent the request, we needed less than Rs100 million. Now we need Rs396 million,” he said.
The director general said that the service needed 66 new ambulances for all of the Punjab, including 24 for Lahore.
He said that the shortage of medicines and equipment was being resolved, as the department had worked out a way to procure what it needs alongside the bulk purchase deals for medicines made by the Health Department for public hospitals.
Asked why so many employees were leaving the department, he said that when it had opened, the emergency services had hired a lot of young people. He said a lot of people felt they would have better opportunities elsewhere, so they had moved on.
He said during Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to the Rescue 1122 training centre three months ago, he had asked him to raise the salaries of rescuers. The chief minister had announced that the rescuers’ salaries would be raised to the level of the police, but this had not happened yet.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2012.