363 Rescuers pass out

LAHORE: A passing out ceremony of 363 fire DERT rescuers (FDRs) including 10 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and four rescue drivers held at the Emergency Services Academy.

Punjab Minister for Law, Local Government and Parliamentary Affairs and Public Prosecution Muhammad Basharat Raja was the chief guest of the ceremony while members of provincial assembly (MPAs) Sajid Ahmad Khan, Musarat Jamshaid, Uzma Kardar, Special Secretary Home Ehsan Bhutta, Additional Secretary Home Saira Umar, Punjab Emergency Services Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer, senior officers from rescue headquarters, emergency services academy and a large number of rescuers and other guests attended the ceremony.

In his welcoming address, the DG rescue took oath from the passing out rescuers and congratulated them on successful completion of their professional training and becoming part of the service. He said the rescue service has rescued over 6.9 million victims of emergencies since its inception in October 2004. The rescue fire service has also responded to over 128,000 fire emergencies and saved losses of worth billions of rupees with professional firefighting. He said the emergency services academy was not only providing training to the rescuers of Punjab but also providing technical assistance to the other provinces through Punjab government for replication of this lifesaving model of the service. As for now, the academy has trained over 20,000 rescuers of Punjab, KPK, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Balochistan and Aman Foundation from Karachi since its inception. He said even SAARC countries could get benefit from this training facility. Furthermore, the academy is the only institution, which had organised first SAARC Rescue Challenge in year 2018, said the DG.

Basharat Raja appreciated the services rendered by Punjab Emergency Services, congratulated the passed out rescuers and hoped that these rescuers would perform their duties with dedication. He said, “Rescue 1122 is remembered as a symbol of complete success among public and people narrate it as a symbol of high standard to serve humanity.” He said he had witnessed various training institutions but the dedication, devotion of the rescuers, officers and training team is exemplary. He also appreciated the services of Founder Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer and his team who worked hard and set an example for others.

While sharing his personal experience about a bullet case emergency, the minister said he found that the rescuers had reached the site of the incident within a few minutes even than before reaching the victim’s family. “I had attended the first passing out ceremony of Rescue 1122 in 2004 at Elite Police Training Centre and after 15 years, once again I am honoured to witness the excellence of service”.

Basharat said the rescuers had been chosen for the greater cause of serving the humanity, adding rescuers were the real heroes of the nation who put their own lives in danger to save the precious lives and property of the citizens.

The minister also realised all service related issues including service rules and safety act would be resolved on priority basis. The minister along with the DG rescue distributed the awards of best FDR, rescue drivers and overall best to the rescuers of the passed out batch.

Earlier, the passing out rescuers demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management during mock exercises of deep well rescue, water rescue, fire fighting, urban search and rescue, rescue from confined spaces & rescue from height.