323 rescuers pass out at emergency services academy

LAHORE: A passing out ceremony of 323 rescuers including 269 from Balochistan and 54 from Punjab was held at Emergency Services Academy here on Saturday.

Specialised training has been imparted to the rescuers to help the Corona patients. Ziaullah Langove, Home Minister and Tribal Affairs & PDMA Balochistan, represented Chief Minister Balochistan whereas Dr Rubaba Buledi, Adviser to CM Balochistan on Health, Irfan Ahmad Awan, Member Board of Directors PPHI Balochistan, Aziz Ahmad Jamali, CEO PPHI /MERC, and other senior officers from Punjab & Balochistan and rescuers attended the ceremony.

Director General Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer took oath from the passed out rescuers and congratulated them on their successful completion of professional training and becoming part of rescue family.

He said Rescue Service Punjab started from District Lahore in 2004 now available in all districts of Punjab. This service has rescued over 9.2 million victims of emergencies and disaster. Punjab government through Rescue Service is providing training to emergency personnel and technical assistance to other provinces to replicate this lifesaving model of the Emergency Service in their respective provinces. Furthermore, Emergency Services Academy has trained 20,494 Rescuers for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Balochistan and Aman Foundation from Karachi and Search and Rescue Team of Academy has become the first United Nations INSARAG certified team in South Asia, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ziaullah Langove, Home Minister Balochistan, congratulated the rescuers and said the rescuers are the real heroes across the world and as well as a pride for all of us.

“Every human life is precious and its protection is foremost priority and responsibility of their government,” he said and appreciated the services of Director General Punjab Emergency Service Dr Rizwan Naseer & Punjab Rescue Service and training standards of Emergency Services Academy.

He thanked the Punjab government and DG Rescue and Registrar Academy for providing all support for training of Balochistan rescuers, which will be a great contribution towards new initiative for giving basic right of emergency care to citizens of the province of Balochistan.

He ensured that the government of Balochistan will 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.

Dr Rubaba Buledi, Adviser to CM Balochistan on Health, thanked the Punjab government and Emergency Services Academy for supporting the government of Balochistan for establishment of Medical Emergency Response Centre to provide help in case of any emergency. She appreciated the participation of female rescuers in the service and wished to send a batch of female from Balochistan.

Aziz Ahmad Jamali, CEO People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) Balochistan, said, “We conducted a survey, which showed that most of the road crashes are occurring on main highways so government of Balochistan started Medical Emergency Response Centres and third batch has passed out. Now over 14,000 victims of road crashes have been rescued through emergency personnel. This would have not been possible without support of the Punjab government and Emergency Services Academy,” 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, Home Minister Balochistan along with DG Rescue Punjab presented best performance awards and certificates among highest achievers of the course in field of fire, medical and rescue.