201 Punjab, Balochistan rescuers pass out

LAHORE: The Passing Out ceremony of 201 rescuers, including 96 from Balochistan and 105 from Punjab held here Monday at Emergency Services Academy.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan was the chief guest. Punjab Emergency Service Founder DG Dr Rizwan Naseer Dr Rizwan Naseer took oath from passed out rescuers and congratulated them on their successful completion of professional training and becoming part of Rescue family.

In his welcome address, he briefed that Rescue 1122 Punjab had rescued over 7.4 million victims of emergencies since its inception October 2004. The Service was initially started as pilot project from District Lahore to ensure human resource development of long neglected emergency service in Pakistan. The Punjab government through Rescue Service is providing technical assistance to other provinces for establishment /replication of this lifesaving model of the Emergency Service. Now, the emergency services are being provided to the citizens of other provinces, and trained over 18,000 Rescuers for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Balochistan and Aman Foundation from Karachi since 2004. The Emergency Services Academy has become a centre of excellence for training of emergency services of all provinces and SAARC countries and they can benefit from this training facility, he added.

Speaking at the occasion, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan congratulated passed out rescuers and appreciated the services of Founder Director General Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer and Punjab Rescue Service and training standards of Emergency Services Academy. He said the Rescuers were the real heroes across the world and a pride for all of us. No doubt, the rescuers are putting their lives in danger while providing a sense of safety and protection to the citizens but it is the need of the hour to design buildings and factories according to the building safety codes, so that the precious human lives and property could be saved. Stressing upon the individual responsibilities, he said that every Pakistani should play pivotal role in making this country prosperous and successful. He maintained that the Rescue Service would also expand to all remaining districts of Balochistan soon for provision of timely care in case of emergencies and disaster. “Every human life is precious and its protection is foremost priority and responsibility of their government,” he said. He thanked the Punjab government and DG Rescue and Registrar Academy for providing all support for training of Balochistan Rescuers, which will be a new initiative for giving basic right of emergency care to citizens.

He ensured that the Balochistan government would try to follow footsteps of Punjab Emergency Service to establish a comprehensive emergency management system in Balochistan and in this regard, we are expecting the support from the Punjab government through Emergency Services Academy for training of Balochistan Rescuers.

Speaking at the ceremony, Industries, Commerce and investment/ Information Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal welcomed the Balochistan CM in Lahore and congratulated the passed out cadets. He said that Rescue 1122 was an exemplary department which is setting high professional standards through its services.

Earlier, the passing out cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management during mock exercises of deep well rescue, water rescue, firefighting, urban search and rescue, rescue from confined spaces & rescue from height. The specialised Call Taker and Emergency Dispatcher (CT&ED) training in the field of Communication, along with basic medical fire and rescue training imparted to the rescuers.

At the end, the Balochistan chief minister along with DG Rescue Punjab distributed best performance awards and certificates among high-achievers of the course in field of Fire, Medical and Rescue.

drug pushers: On the directions of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Lahore Police in continuation of its crackdown against the drug peddlers around the educational institutions in the city, arrested 330 accused persons during last nine days. According to the details, in compliance with the orders of IGP Captain ® Arif Nawaz Khan, DIG Operations Lahore directed all divisional SPs of Lahore Police to speed up the crackdown against narcotics sellers outside educational institutions.