Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Rescue Director General (DG) Dr Rizwan Naseer has announced that Rescue 1122 shall mark 2017 as Year of Safety.

Presiding over a meeting of rescue officers at Rescue 1122 Headquarters on Monday, the director genera reviewed annual performance of the institution. Head of all wings of the emergency service attended the meeting.

It was shared that the 731,107 emergency victims were rescued during 671,686 rescue operations in all districts of Punjab last year while maintaining its average response time of 7 minutes.

The meeting decided to launch several programmes for prevention of emergencies, including School Safety Programme, Rescue Mohafiz Programme through establishment of community emergency response teams in all union councils of Punjab to mark the year as Year of Safety. The teams shall be trained for disaster response and community-based risk reduction for prevention of emergencies.

The Provincial Monitoring Cell (PMC) told the director general that 238,785 road accidents took place across Punjab in 2016 whereas 227,390 road accidents were reported in 2015, thus showing an increase of 2.44 percent.

Similarly, 14033 fire incidents were reported in all 36 districts of Punjab in 2016 as compared to 11,565 cases reported in 2015.

It was said that the Rescue 1122 managed 327,843 medical emergencies last year as compared to 295,323 medical cases in 2015, showing an increase of 5.21 percent.

“Also, the Rescue 1122 responded to 21,182 calls related to crime last year as compared to 21,747 in 2015 with an increase of 565 cases. Total 154 explosions were reported in 2016 in Punjab as compared to only 173 cases during 2015. Rescue 1122 also responded to 1,097 cases of drowning, 567 building collapses and 68,025 miscellaneous incidents,” the meeting heard.

Speaking on the occasion, the DG said the Rescue 1122 had emerged as a successful model of emergency services delivery during the last 12 years.

He said that motorbike ambulance service was being established in 9 divisions of Punjab to ensure prompt response to emergencies during rush hours.

“This motorbike service would further enhance the operational capacity of the emergency services in Punjab to provide swift respond to any emergency in these major cities of Punjab, especially in congested areas and traffic jams.”

He added that the Rescue 1122 had ensured provision of basic right to timely emergency care without discrimination of caste; colour or creed and the service would undertake evidence-based research on the number and nature of emergencies, to recommend measures for prevention of emergencies.

As most the emergency services in developed countries focus on fire prevention system; therefore, the Rescue 1122 shall observe 2017 as Year of Safety, he added.