Rescue 1122 given status of autonomous body

Operations to be extended to five more districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

PESHAWAR: Emergency rescue service ‘Rescue 1122’ has been given the status of an autonomous body and all its employees have been regularised, said the organisation’s Director-General Dr Shamsul Haq told the media on Monday.

The rescue services will be extended to five more districts, which include Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Mingora and Kohat.

Earlier in June this year, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Masood Kausar had approved an ordinance for Rescue 1122 and now the project has been formalised giving its employees Basic Pay Structure.

Dr Haq, while addressing a press conference, said that all private ambulances owned by NGOs and other social welfare organisations will need to obtain a Non-Objection Certificate from Rescue 1122, which will ensure that essential facilities are available.

There are seven rescue stations around Peshawar in which 500 personnel are performing their duties round the clock to immediately respond to any emergency call in the city. “In the last three years our service has timely responded to 15,000 public calls,” said an official Urooj Shirazi.

“We have set seven minutes response time to an emergency after receiving a call, however, the average response time our staff has achieved in the last three years is 5.4 minutes,” he said, while adding that on every Rescue 1122 station there are two ambulances and two fire vehicles available.