Daily Times

Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 has rescued 90,960 victims of different emergencies while conducting 89,705 rescue operations in month of July 2018 all over Punjab, with an average response time of seven minutes.

Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer directed to ensure the fitness of rescue staff and cleanliness of all emergency vehicles and rescue stations. He added that the service is responding to average 950 road traffic crashes in Punjab on daily basis in which average 1,000 people get injured or disabled. The injury data reveals major causes of injuries to be 72 percent road traffic related, 11 percent due to fall from heights and 5.2 percent due to violence.

Therefore, he requested traffic police to ensure effective implementation of traffic laws especially underage driving and use of helmets by motorbike riders. He also appealed to the parents to understand their social responsibility and ensure that their underage children do not drive motorbikes or cars. He said that most of the traffic accidents are avoidable if citizens abide by the road safety laws.

The emergency calls to which Rescue 1122 responded to include 26,523 road traffic accidents, 48,849 medical emergencies, 947 fire incidents, 2,459 crimes, 208 drowning incidents, 140 building collapses, one explosion and 10,567 miscellaneous operations.

According to the statistics, a majority of fire incidents occurred in major cities, including 331 in Lahore, 99 in Faisalabad, 697 in Rawalpindi, 58 in Multan, 35 in Gujranwala and 612 in Sialkot. Similarly, 6,156 traffic accidents were reported in Lahore, 2,601 in Faisalabad, 1,540 in Gujranwala and 2,157 in Multan and 697 in Rawalpindi.

Published in Daily Times, August 2^nd 2018.