Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia appointed as Acting Director General Rescue 1122

Lahore: The Punjab Government has formally appointed Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia as Acting Director General, Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122), who took his charge on Monday, after the outgoing Director General & founder Rescue 1122 Dr. Rizwan Naseer has been appointed as Secretary General, Pakistan Red Crescent Society. After taking the charge and presiding over a meeting of rescue officers at Rescue 1122 Headquarters, the Acting Director General, Brig. Dr. Arshad Zia said that his priorities were to work for welfare of the rescuers, to finalize long awaited Service Rules, to maintain the standards of emergency services in Punjab, to establish Urban Search & Rescue Teams at Divisional Level and to ensure smooth provision of technical assistance to other provinces for replication of emergency services.

It is pertinent to mention here, Brig. (r) Dr. Arshad Zia completed his MBBS from Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur in 1974 and joined Pakistan Army’s Medical Corps as Captain Doctor in 1981. During his career in armed forces, he served for three years as Captain Doctor in Saudi Arabia in Emergency Department of Military Hospital “Sharoora” and was rewarded with “Medal of Excellent Performance”.

Brig. Dr. Arshad Zia also served as Major-Doctor Pakistan Navy and was posted at PNS Karsaaz, PNS Bahadur, PNS Johar & Destroyer Ship PNS Saif. He also worked as a Director Medical Services for one year during Operation “Rah-e-Nijaat” in Peshawar 11 Corps. He was retired from Pakistan Army in 2011 and joined Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) as a Director (Admin) on 5^th October, 2011. During this span of time, he supervised expansion of Rescue 1122 in Districts & Tehsils, assisted in establishment of Emergency Services Academy & also streamlined monitoring of emergency operations in Punjab.

The Acting Director General Brig. Dr. Arshad Zia said that he was glad to lead the lifesaving service of Pakistan and would perform in his best capacity. He also lauded the services of outgoing Director General, Dr. Rizwan Naseer by saying that he is true patriot and son of the soil, who initiated Rescue 1122 in 2004, which has rescued over 3.6 million emergency victims since its establishment.