Lahore: The 18th Passing out ceremony of 592 rescuers including rescuers from Tehsils & Districts of Punjab was held at Emergency Services Academy, Thokar Niaz Baig, here on Saturday.
The ceremony was attended by Founder Rescue 1122 & Secretary General, Pakistan Red Crescent Society Dr. Rizwan Naseer, UN-OCHA International Mentor of International Search & Rescue Advisory Group Edward G Pearns, Director, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia, Registrar Emergency Services Academy, Dr. Farhan Khalid, DD (P&D) Faheem Ahmed Qureshi; DD (HR) Dr. Fooad Shahzad Mirza, DD (Operations) Ayyaz Aslam, DD (R&M) Engr. Irfan Naseer, and other dignitaries & rescue officers.
In welcoming address, Dr. Farhan Khalid congratulated rescuers on completion of their training and thanked Founder Rescue 1122 & Secretary General Pakistan Red Crescent Society Dr. Rizwan Naseer for extending his sincere efforts for expansion of the Service to all Districts of Punjab and now at Tehsil level. He appreciated the hectic efforts and dedication of Founder Rescue 1122, who flourished this tree as a Director General in past. He also urged newly trained rescuers to maintain standards of the Service in their respective districts & Tehsils of the Punjab. He said that the quality training of such a large number of rescuers with limited resources was a gigantic task but has been achieved through proper monitoring and weekly tests. Dr. Farhan further said that the emergency staff will be deputed in hospital of their respective districts for hands on training of emergency management in teaching hospitals before final posting.
Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Rizwan Naseer said that the Service is successful only because of its training on modern lines. He said that Rescuers were the brave sons of soil, who put their lives in danger to save lives of the others. He said that Emergency Services Academy has imparted professional training among over 10000 rescuers including 844 of Khyber Pakhtunkhaw; 52 of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, 204 of Gilgit Baltistan, 429 of Aman Foundation, Karachi, 330 of Punjab Police, 149 of Mayo Hospital, 22 from Social Security Hospital and 12 from LUMS in past. He further said the way the rescuers performed during floods in Pakistan during 2010; 2014 & during ongoing floods shows professionalism & training of the rescuers. “Rescue 1122 has rescued over 3.5 million emergency victims since its inception & saved losses wroth over Rs. 185 billion through professional fire fighting in all Districts of Punjab, which shows level of commitment and sincerity with jobs of the rescuers,” he added. He also congratulated the rescuers hoping that they would maintain the same standards of the emergency services in Punjab.
Mr. Edward G Pearns, UN-OCHA International Mentor for International Search & Rescue Advisory Group, said that this Emergency Services Academy, Pakistan was the second largest professional training institute of the world. He said Pakistan has made significant improvement in emergency sector by launching Rescue 1122 in Punjab & now in other provinces of Pakistan. “I have witnessed a great level of satisfaction among rescuers of Rescue 1122, who are enthusiastic and hard working,” he added. Mr. Edward also appreciated the efforts of Dr. Rizwan Naseer for establishing this life saving service in Pakistan. Director, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia thanked the dignitaries and congratulated the passed out rescuers.
The passing out cadets demonstrated their professional skills of emergency management of victims in mock exercise of mass casualties after explosion & fire. They also demonstrated skills of firefighting and rescue from height on this occasion. These Cadets have been given specialized medical, rescue, firefighting and height rescue training in first phase and specialized training courses were arranged for them in the fields of Communication, Medical First Responder (MFR), Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR), Communication, Incident Command System and Community Safety Training in 2nd phase of training.
Tagged with: Emergency Services Academy Founder Rescue 1122 & Secretary General held at Pakistan Red Crescent Society Dr. Rizwan Naseer