The passing out of 234 rescuers trained for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Punjab was held at the Emergency Services Academy (Rescue 1122), here on Friday. Rescuers included 197 from Punjab and 37 rescuers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This batch also included 28 female rescuers including 25 from Punjab and three from KPK. Secretary Emergency Services Dr Rizwan Naseer took oath from passing out emergency services personnel and congratulated them on the successful completion of their professional training and becoming part of this life-saving emergency service. Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, HI (M) participated as chief guest. Dr Rizwan Naseer, senior officers of emergency services academy and Headquarters and a large number of rescuers, their families also attended the ceremony. Addressing the passing out ceremony, Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik congratulated passed out rescuers, their families and academy instructors who imparted them training. He said that Rescue 1122 always provided help whenever citizens faced any trouble, whether there was a corona, flood or any disaster. He asserted that Rescue 1122 was a trained organization. The trained instructors of rescue services were not only providing training to rescuers but also to other organizations and particularly to the other provinces for establishing emergency services, he added. The chairman NDMA expressed that Rescue 1122 has been selected for Chairing INSARAG in the year 2024. “We would keep the rescue capabilities in front of the world and enhance our capacity”, he maintained. Haider Malik advised the passed-out rescuers that they should teach the communities the training which they have learnt for sake of more and more lives saving. He said that he was honored to be at Headquarters 1122 and having attended the event of ongoing passing out and affiliated exposure of the enabling environment. On this occasion, Dr. Rizwan Naseer said that Rescue 1122 had rescued over 11.9 million victims of emergencies since its inception in October 2004, adding that the fire rescue service also responded to over 200,000 fire emergencies and saved losses worth over Rs. 595 billion with professional firefighting on modern lines. The Emergency Services Academy was imparting training to emergency services personnel from all provinces of Pakistan and other countries. “Now this academy also hosts the first United Nations INSARAG classified team in South Asia to respond to national and international disasters, and calamities in accordance with international standards, which is an honour for Pakistan,” the secretary said. Earlier, the passed-out cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management of deep-well rescue, water rescue, firefighting, urban search & rescue, rescue from confined space and rescue from height. In the end, the best performing cadets of the course in each category were presented shields, whereas the Secretary Emergency Services presented honorary shield to Chairman NDMA Pakistan.