DG Rescue 1122 visits corona helpline centre in Lahore

LAHORE: Punjab Emergency Service (PES) Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer Wednesday visited the Corona Rescue Helpline 1190 centre to review its performance. According to a spokesperson for the PES (Rescue-1122), the DG was briefed that since March 21, a total of 22,201 calls have been received at the Corona Rescue Helpline. The call centre team expressed concerns over the sudden change in the pattern of calls, as now no one was calling to get medical advice, but requesting for provision of ration packs.

The DG Rescue said that the call pattern had changed from April 12, 2020. Out of total calls received at the helpline so far, 3,552 were related to corona medical advice and 17,268 were for ration request.

The other calls during this period included 343 corona testing queries, 336 suspected corona patient information, 92 public gathering complaints, 17 disinfection requests, 16 shifting requests and 577 feedback/ information seeking.

Earlier, Ms Deeba Shahnaz, head of the Community Safety and Information, informed the DG Rescue that, upon directions of Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, ration distribution activity had been launched by the Pakistan rescue team, along with field rescue offices of Lahore and Rawalpindi. A total of 40,529 ration packs had been distributed by the rescue teams in Lahore and Rawalpindi so far.