Female cadets of Gilgit Baltistan passed out from Emergency Services Academy

Lahore: A passing out ceremony of female cadets including dert rescuers; fire rescuers, emergency medical technicians and a rescue and safety officer (RSO) of Gilgit Baltistan was held at Emergency Services Academy, Lahore-Pakistan on Friday.

The ceremony was attended by DG Rescue Punjab Dr. Rizwan Naseer and DG Rescue 1122 Gilgit Baltistan Dr. Sher Aziz and other dignitaries from different Government & Non-Government Organizations.

After taking an impressive oath taking ceremony in which the rescuers of Gilgit Baltistan pledged to serve humanity in their region, the Director General, Emergency Services Punjab Dr. Rizwan Naseer in his welcome address congratulated Chief Minister Gilgit Baltistan, Chief Minister Punjab and Governor Punjab for establishing Rescue 1122 Emergency Services in a hilly region of Pakistan – Gilgit Baltistan. He also congratulated the passed out female rescuers and said that it was important for them to remember what they learnt at Emergency Services Academy and to ensure the same standard of emergency services in disaster prone areas of Gilgit Baltistan.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer further expressed his happiness by saying that the Service which started from Lahore was being expanded to other provinces as Rescue 1122 has been launched in Peshawar and Mardan; Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit and Sakardu and Baluchistan and Sindh too were starting the same emergency services shortly.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer said on formal request by Gilgit Baltistan government, the first batch comprising of 186 rescuers of Gilgit Baltistan was imparted training at Emergency Services Academy and passed out in 2012 and now second batch comprising of female rescuers has been passed out. “We shall continue providing technical assistance to other provinces for replication of this emergency model in their respective areas,” he added.

He said that Prime Minister of Pakistan has tasked Governor Punjab to expand this life saving force – Rescue 1122 – in other provinces including Sindh and Balochistan so that the basic right to timely emergency care could also be provided to the victims of emergencies in respective regions.

The DG Rescue Gilgit–Baltistan Dr. Sher Aziz said that the selection of rescuers for Gilgit Baltistan was purely on merit and I am happy to see that they have been given professional training to save precious human lives from Emergency Services Academy which is already tested model of Rescue 1122 in Punjab. Now this is the responsibility of trained rescuers to maintain same standards of Service in their respective provinces.

He also thanked the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and Governor Punjab Ch. Mohammad Sarwar and people of Punjab for this kind gesture of brotherhood for giving opportunity to replicate international standard emergency services in other provinces of Pakistan. He also acknowledged the services of Dr. Rizwan Naseer as founder of the Pakistan’s first trained emergency medical, rescue and fire Services and also appreciated his sincere efforts for the establishment of Rescue1122 in Gilgit Baltistan.

“The experience, achievements and skills of the Punjab Emergency Service team will be of great benefit for us in Gilgit Baltistan,” he added.

Earlier, the passed out female cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management of victims in cardio pulmonary resuscitation; splinting, bandaging and use of state-of-the-art highly equipped cardiac ambulances. They also demonstrated skill of firefighting and rescue from height at this occasion.

Dr. Farhan Khalid, Deputy Director (Training), said that these cadets have been given specialized medical; rescue, firefighting and rescue from height training in first phase then the specialized training courses were arranged for rescuers in the fields of Communication, Medical First Responder (MFR), Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR), Communication Enhancement and Incident Command System. He further said that the quality training of rescuers with limited resources was a gigantic task, which has been achieved through close monitoring and weekly tests.